10 Films That Shaped The Course Of History

As the ‘80s roared, this was often at working class expense. When executives realised they could no longer compete in an increasingly ruthless industry, they moved their plants overseas in search for cheap labour.

This documentary film shows the effects of this on America’s ‘Rustbelt’. With a similar message to Wall Street but raising awareness about the opposite end of the pyramid, Michael Moore takes us on a journey around Flint, Michigan, where General Motors’ (GM) largest plant has recently closed down. Here, we see some extremely demoralizing images of sacked GM employees, including families that are made homeless on Christmas Eve and that are forced to kill their own pet animals for food.

The film then juxtaposes these scenes with a trip to GM’s headquarters where Moore is declined an interview with GM’s chairman, Roger Smith. As they go around Detroit visiting the places where Smith supposedly frequents, (country clubs, dinner parties etc), Moore is constantly turned away and we are left in disarray at the chairman’s absence of care for his company’s ex-workers.

The film was a huge hit, making profits fifty-five-fold and immediately driving public opinion of GM into the ground, resulting in an 8% loss of the company’s market share. Given its popularity, it also contributed hugely to a growing nationwide anti-corporate sentiment that would 3 years later, bring the end to 12 years of Republican government.

Given all this, we shouldn’t underestimate the similarities between the message of this film and that of Wall Street.