I'll get this out of the way first: I was born in Flint and lived in the Flint area until I went away to school. The last time I spent significant time in Flint was the summer of 1984, which coincided with the opening of the Waterstreet Pavilion, and Autoworld (I still have the souvenier mug, and if Michael Moore ever come to visit me, he's drinking coffee from it). There may be some things in this movie that are not entirely true, and the movie is slanted, but the feel for Flint is absolutely dead on.
*SPOILERS*
The idea behind the movie is Moore trying to get Roger Smith to visit Flint; or rather, those areas of Flint that have suffered while GM has abandoned the town in favor of cheaper labor. Moore has an everyman demeanor, right down to the "Out for Trout" hat he wears throughout the movie. This allows him to get away with a few things that might otherwise tick us off: the guy at the Private Club and the Security Giards that force Moore to leave are just poor schlubbs doing their jobs, after all. On the other hand, I felt a moment of justice when Moore was almost gleefully unfair to a Flint PR flack whose move to Tel Aviv coincides with, but probably did not actually cause, the intafada, or when the GM applogist PR man was laid off. Moore's personna also allows him to play the innocent: his surprise that the elevator at GM's World Headquarters do not actually go to the 14th Floor is priceless, even if he probably knew in advance that they do not go there.
Coupled with the attempts to get Smith to visit are the attempts by the Flint City fathers and mothers to try to revive the town, and the residents whose lives we get to see a bit of. Particularly notable are Fred the Bailiff, who evicts people from their apartments every day, and the Bunny lady, who pets and talks to a cute little rabbit, just before braining it with a steel rod and skinning it for dinner.
All in all, the movie is funny and poignant and sad. Smith never visits Flint, of course, and Moore's one chance to speak at a shareholder's meeting is ended when his mike is cut. And all of the hopes and dreams of the people of Flint to resurrect the City come acropper. And we are left with the sense of sadness for the wasting of human potential and outrage at Smith for allowing it to happen. Which is of course a simplification, but the simplification Moore wants us to make. The movie succeeds in its purpose and entertains.
*SPOILERS*
The idea behind the movie is Moore trying to get Roger Smith to visit Flint; or rather, those areas of Flint that have suffered while GM has abandoned the town in favor of cheaper labor. Moore has an everyman demeanor, right down to the "Out for Trout" hat he wears throughout the movie. This allows him to get away with a few things that might otherwise tick us off: the guy at the Private Club and the Security Giards that force Moore to leave are just poor schlubbs doing their jobs, after all. On the other hand, I felt a moment of justice when Moore was almost gleefully unfair to a Flint PR flack whose move to Tel Aviv coincides with, but probably did not actually cause, the intafada, or when the GM applogist PR man was laid off. Moore's personna also allows him to play the innocent: his surprise that the elevator at GM's World Headquarters do not actually go to the 14th Floor is priceless, even if he probably knew in advance that they do not go there.
Coupled with the attempts to get Smith to visit are the attempts by the Flint City fathers and mothers to try to revive the town, and the residents whose lives we get to see a bit of. Particularly notable are Fred the Bailiff, who evicts people from their apartments every day, and the Bunny lady, who pets and talks to a cute little rabbit, just before braining it with a steel rod and skinning it for dinner.
All in all, the movie is funny and poignant and sad. Smith never visits Flint, of course, and Moore's one chance to speak at a shareholder's meeting is ended when his mike is cut. And all of the hopes and dreams of the people of Flint to resurrect the City come acropper. And we are left with the sense of sadness for the wasting of human potential and outrage at Smith for allowing it to happen. Which is of course a simplification, but the simplification Moore wants us to make. The movie succeeds in its purpose and entertains.