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One of the greatest scandals in American corporate history is chronicled in the riveting documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Based on the bestselling book by Fortune magazine reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin, and directed by Alex Gibney (who also produced The Trials of Henry Kissinger), the film is an epic morality tale, drawing upon a wealth of insider interviews and archival material to show how Enron, once the nation's seventh largest corporate entity, essentially faked its bookkeeping to report profits that never existed. The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation. --Jeff Shannon
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the RoomReviewed by S. Yi Hao, 2010-02-28
This movie was very well thought through. Kept me on the edge of my seat. But I do wonder, has this been excessively dramatized? Even though facts are facts and I'm sure the public did indeed suffer tremendously due to the greed of the "useful idiots". I'm just curious to know all information and ensure any info of a significant nature was not left out. Ha, thats just me. This movie is thought provoking and I believe gives me a glimpse into the future.
Relevant TodayReviewed by Ana Mardoll, 2010-01-27
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room / B000C3L2IO
Although the Enron scandal is several years old at this point, so
much of this documentary is well worth seeing and understanding -
perhaps even more so in light of recent government and judicial
decisions to grant more and more 'rights' to corporations - rights
that, historically, have been (and should be - in my opinion)
reserved for individuals alone. It's frustrating to watch "Enron"
and realize just how systemic the abuse went - from the government
agencies that signed off on Enron's ludicrous system of marking
"future" profits as current earnings, to the investment bankers
that openly fired and harassed employees that refused to swallow
Enron's lines about how great their stock was, to politicians that
refused to stem the abuses and instead allowed countless
individuals to suffer and in some cases (such as the California
blackouts) to actually die, rather than serve as a check on the
system. Indeed, I would rate "Enron" a must-see documentary for
anyone - especially for anyone who believes that Enron was some
sort of isolated case that can't or won't occur again.
Indeed, I'm not sure that even the documentary makers understand
that - for I don't know what to make of the 'moral' at the end that
Enron's story could happen to any major corporation. I'm
sympathetic to the need to make documentaries relevant outside the
immediate subject matter, but way to undersell the point! I think
the language here could and should have been much stronger - the
tragedy of Enron is not, in my opinion, that one company behaved
badly, but rather that our government - whose purpose it is to
protect its citizens - happily signed off on letting a corporation
behave badly in order to plunder the retirement accounts of
individual citizens. Therefore, the 'moral' of the Enron story is
not, in my opinion, that corporations must police themselves more
strictly, but that citizens need to demand, with their votes, that
our government not continue to coddle and protect corporations over
individuals.
A final criticism for "Enron", though: why are we seeing so many
documentaries lately with no subtitles for the hearing impaired? I
can hardly imagine that lack of funds was an issue - what, couldn't
they have cut out the unnecessary and titillating shots of
strippers for 5 minutes and stuck to plain ol' boring interviews
during that segment and used that cash for some subtitles? Really,
now, it's time to join the modern era and realize that deaf people
like to watch documentaries too.
~ Ana Mardoll
Good, but surprisingReviewed by Nice Guy, 2009-11-19
Good portrayal of a big business going bad as the corruption grew
bigger and bigger.
Surprisingly (maybe i missed it), I don't remember Rebecca Mark
even being mentioned once throughout the entire program.
Great + important = watchReviewed by Dario Dinatale, 2009-08-20
This is a great film/documentary...
Pros:
-Informative and educating about today's issues...
-Well-made
Cons:
-Children (the most crucial members of society, who should be
watching this more than anyone) won't be able to watch it, because
of the inclusion of a bafflingly unnecessary, long, drawn-out
stripper scene, with full-nudity. (it's like actually going to a
strip club, except you're watching a documentary). I was so
disappointed, because I advocate showing these kinds of
documentaries in schools (and at home).
A well written indepth story with only slight biast.Reviewed by Reed Douglas, 2009-08-19
I loved this movie. It was a great insight into what went on in the final days of a an amazing intense story. After this you feel like you just watched the latest action movie instead of a documentary. The movie got a good point across; these guys were geniuses, the likes of which American will probably never see again. If a truly "good" corporation had a Lay, Skilling, and Fastow it would not only be an economic powerhouse, but soluble too. The movie was finished, though, I believe slightly before Lay's death, so just know that... he is dead.
