Roger and Me (1989)

Roger and Me changed documentary filmmaking by proving that personal outrage could drive a political exposé. Michael Moore spent $250,000 of his own money and three years following General Motors CEO Roger Smith across Flint, Michigan, after GM closed 11 plants and cut 30,000 jobs. The film grossed $6.7 million in theaters, 27 times its budget, making it more profitable than I Am Not Your Negro (which earned $7 million against a $1.5 million budget). Moore's ambush interviews and satirical tone set a benchmark that 70% of subsequent political documentaries have tried to imitate, though none matched its raw first-hand fury.