Roger & Me - Plot

Plot

Moore begins by introducing himself and his family through 8 mm archival home movies; he describes himself as "kind of a strange child," the Irish American Catholic middle-class son of a General Motors employee assembling AC Spark Plugs. Moore chronicles how GM had previously defined his childhood in Flint, Michigan, and how the company was the primary economic and social hub of the town. He points out that Flint is the place where the Flint Sit-Down Strike occurred, resulting in the birth of the United Auto Workers. He reveals that his heroes were the Flint natives who had escaped the life in GM's factories, including "Flint's most famous native son," game show host Bob Eubanks.

Initially, Moore achieves his dream of avoiding factory life after being hired by a magazine in San Francisco, but this venture fails for him and he ultimately travels back to Flint. As he returns, General Motors announces the layoffs of thousands of Flint auto workers, whose jobs will go to cheaper labor in Mexico. GM makes this announcement even though the company is experiencing record profits.

Disguised as a TV journalist, Moore interviews some auto workers in Flint and discovers their strong antipathy to General Motors chairman Roger B. Smith. Moore begins seeking out Smith himself to confront him about the closing of the Flint plants. He tries to visit Smith at GM's headquarters in Detroit, yet he is blocked by building security as Moore hasn't made an appointment. A company spokesman exchanges contact information with Moore, but ultimately refuses to grant Moore an interview due to his lack of credentials. Over the course of the film, Moore attempts to track down Smith at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club and the Detroit Athletic Club, only to be told either that Smith is not there or to leave by employees and security guards.

From here, Moore begins to explore the emotional impact of the plant closings on his friends. He interviews Ben Hamper, an auto worker who suffered a nervous breakdown on the assembly line and is residing at a mental health facility. From here, to the Beach Boys song "Wouldn't It Be Nice?", we see a montage of the urban decay enveloping Flint, interspersed with news reports about increasing layoffs, residents moving away, and rapidly increasing rat infestations. Moore also talks to the residents of the affluent suburb of Grand Blanc, who display classist attitudes about Flint's hardships; a roaring twenties themed party they are hosting, Moore takes note when they hire laid off workers to be human statues.

Moore changes course and turns his camera on the Flint Convention and Visitors Bureau, which promotes a vigorously incompetent tourism policy. The Bureau, in an effort to lure tourists into visiting Flint, permit the construction of a Hyatt Regency Hotel, a festival marketplace called Water Street Pavilion, and AutoWorld, hailed as the world's largest indoor theme park. All these efforts fail, as the Hyatt files for bankruptcy and is put up for sale, Water Street Pavilion sees most of its stores go out of business, and AutoWorld closes just six months after the grand opening.

High-profile people are shown coming to Flint to bring hope to the unemployed, some of them interviewed by Moore. Ronald Reagan visits the town and suggests that the unemployed auto workers find work by moving across the country, though the restaurant he visits has its cash register stolen during the event. The mayor pays television evangelist Robert Schuller to preach to the town's unemployed. Pat Boone and Anita Bryant, who have supplied GM with celebrity endorsements, also come to town; Boone tells Moore that Roger Smith is a "can-do" kind of guy. Moore also interviews Bob Eubanks during a fair near Flint, during which he cracks a racist joke.

Moore attends GM's Shareholders Convention, disguised as a shareholder himself. However, when he gets a turn at the microphone to air his grevances to the board, Smith immediately shuts him out and has the convention adjourned, despite Moore's attempts to interrupt him. In a close up of Smith, he is heard joking about his action with a fellow boardmember before leaving.

Moore meets more residents of Flint, who are reeling from the economic fallout of the layoffs. A former feminist radio host, Janet, joins Amway as a saleswoman to find work. Another resident, Rhonda Britton, sells rabbits for "Pets or Meat".; Britton is featured killing a rabbit by beating it with a lead pipe. Prevalent throughout the film is Sheriff's Deputy Fred Ross, who worked at for GM for seventeen years before accepting his sheriff's deputy position, whose job now demands that he go around town carrying out evictions on families unable to pay their rent.

During all of this, Flint's crime rate skyrockets, with shootouts and murders becoming all too common. Crime becomes so prevalent that when the ABC News program Nightline tries to do a live story on the plant closings, someone steals the network's van (along with the cables), abruptly stopping the broadcast. Living in Flint becomes so desperate that Money magazine names the town as the worst place to live in America. The residents react with outrage and stage a rally where issues of the magazine are burned.

At the film's climax, Moore finally confronts Smith at the chairman's annual Christmas message, addressing him from a distance. Smith is shown expounding about generosity during the holiday season, concurrently as Sheriff Fred Ross evicts more families. After Smith's speech, Moore hounds Smith:

Dejected by his failure to bring Smith to Flint, Moore proclaims that "as we neared the end of the 20th century", as the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, and "it was truly the dawn of a new era." After the credits, the film displays the message "This film cannot be shown within the city of Flint", followed by "All the movie theatres have closed."