[artlogic]

This isn't as surprising as you might think. Roger and Me isn't a documentary, it's an editorial. It's actually used in film classes as an example of creative editing to make a point. I'm not saying that Flint isn't bad, but Moore did pretty much everything he could to make it look as bad as possible.

The feeling of most folks from Flint I've spoken to is that Moore made a disingenuous "documentary" about Flint not to raise awareness, but to make a buck. It's understandable he's not lauded as a hero.

I also think it's unfair to characterize the reaction of some residents of Michigan to a controversial figure at best as "Michigans backwardness".

[hellofunk]

Totally agree. Michael Moore even won an oscar for documentary filmmaking, but he uses some pretty crafty and biased techniques to make his point. All documentaries tend to have the point of view of their filmmaker, but they often try to expose both sides of the coin in the process and at least present the evidence in a way the audience can judge on their own (at least the good films do this). Michael Moore is very skilled but not at documentary filmmaking. He is a master of propaganda.

[pm24601]

I think you are confusing documentaries with "fair and balanced" news programs.

CitizenFour - did this present the NSA side of things?

An Inconvenient Truth - did this present the fossil fuel industry's viewpoint?

GasLand -- did this present the drilling industries perspective?

Documentaries are about presenting both sides. Documentaries are about presenting truth as the filmmaker sees it - usually with the intent to draw awareness and elicit change.

[91bananas]

> but they often try to expose both sides of the coin in the process and at least present the evidence in a way the audience can judge on their own

Having seen it, and having read a lot of this stuff...I'm genuinely curious what the other side of the coin was/should have been in this film?

[untothebreach]

I grew up in the Flint area, lived and worked there for a number of years. Roger & Me is pretty much spot on.

[_pbfr]

I grew up there too, and while I agree that he is tricky with editing, on the whole I would say its as bad (or worse now) as displayed in the film.