Roger and Me

This film addresses the area of communication in leadership. Ex-journalist Michael Moore’s blistering, satirical documentary about the closing of the General Motors plants in Flint, Michigan in the mid-1980s. This move, which eliminated 33,000 jobs and left the one-industry town destitute, was a particularly bitter tragedy, considering that Flint was the town that gave birth to General Motors during the post-war boom era of the 1950s. The film revolves around Moore’s dogged attempts to gain an interview with Roger Smith, the elusive and well-insulated head of GM and the man responsible for the layoffs.

While tracking the eponymous Roger, Moore takes time out to record the devastation of Flint and the desperate, often unintentionally hilarious attempts of the citizens and the city fathers to deal with the catastrophe. The film is an excellent vehicle for exploring public-relations management, crisis management and the responsibilities of firms to their shareholders, employees and communities.