Reactions mixed to Moore's 'Roger & Me'

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truly represented America. The air of unreality they operate in is astounding; their idea of making Flint a tourist attraction reveals their distance from the planet Imagine a movie that shows the devastating effects of layoffs on a working-class town and the unsuccessful attempts of local government to alleviate the situation, and But, of course, the movie is not all funny. Your heart you might decide to see something that sounds more will fill with compassion for the people left stranded by cheerful after a week at work. Resist that urge. While it's GM's callousness, and you will walk out at the end not "I Love Lucy," "Roger & Me" is a funny movie about wondering what can be done. That is the great strength of a sad but, unfortunately, too-common situation.

Michael Moore, a Flint native, three generations of The film doesn't give any easy answers because there whose family has worked for GM (a great uncle partici- were none, and this is real life. But it tells the truth about pated in the sit-down strikes that led to the founding of the a serious problem and shows how the powers-that-be have UAW), documents what happens when GM starts closing offered no solution. And it tells that truth in a way that is accessible to anyone. I hope everyone sees this movie-if they all walk out thinking, that would be a great start. • human population-show the devastation facing Flint and The movie shows how people try to cope-from selling blood to working at Taco Bell or as prison guards (seeing But the rich in Flint are doing fine, as they say themselves at the golf courses and country clubs. Pat Boone, long connected to GM advertising, advises workers to sell Amway, but the film makes it obvious that none of this Yet "Roger & Me" stumbles badly in providing answers. From the mining villages of northern England to the steel towns of Allentown and Lackawanna, towns and people are being ruined by closures. Its not just GM and Flint, and its not just Roger's fault—the whole capitalist Moore is unable to provide a positive solution to the problem. Most working people probably leave the theater plants.

While touring through the Earth.

the movie. its working class.

former co-workers enter the cells).

is a real solution. system is to blame.

Dear editor, Sandy Doyle-O'Neil's two-part series on attacks on abortion rights and the forced sterilization of poor, Black, and Latina women was very informative, but I wish there were a third part dealing with corporate crime against women.

The A.H. Robins Co. of Richmond, Va., distributed an estimated 4.5 million Dalkon shields (a birth control device) in 80 countries. The shields injured thousands of women, impairing or destroying their ability to bear children.

They killed at least 18 women in the United States alone. An estimated 66,000 women miscarried. Hundreds gave birth prematurely to still-born children or to children with birth defects.

The first Dalkon Shields were tested by Dr. Hugh J. Davis, assishave his way with the film. families shown evicted in the film. would lead to Flint-like "solutions."

are terrible, and that there's no way out.

start. tempt of court and fined the multi-millionaire, A.H. Robins, $10,000.

Before this court action, Robins had dumped thousands of suspect shields in 42 countries. He persuaded the U.S. Agency for International Development to spend $125 million on the shields. By 1974, publicity had forced Robins to announce the withdrawal of the shield from the world market. But 44,000 dangerous shields had already been implanted in Third World women.

As long as large private corporations such as A.H. Robins are allowed to exist, no woman will have the right to choose abortion, sterilization, or childbirth. The women's liberation movement must fight against the private ownership of any corporation in the business of public health.

Victor Saxe Berkeley, Calif.