Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room [Blu-ray] [2006] [US Import] [2004]

The major characters responsible for Enron's downfall could not be interviewed for the movie because they refused to be. But Gibney gives us lots of insights into their leadership style with news footage, corporate audio and video tapes, a comedy skit performed in front of employees, C-Span clips, and a catalog of other visual and recorded material.

Incredibly, even NOW Texan Kenneth Lay, the son of a Baptist preacher and close friend of President George W. Bush (affectionately referring to him as "Kenny Boy"), and Lay's hand-picked CEO, Jeffrey Skilling, deny any wrongdoing. One segment reveals that Skilling's favorite book is "The Selfish Gene." The Darwinian manifesto presents a dog-eat-dog version of human nature. Money is the only thing that counts for Skilling. His ruthlessness coming from such a philosophy is demonstrated throughout his predatory career. Skilling's "mark-to-market" accounting tricks worked long enough to give him the hubris to believe that anything was possible for Enron because they were "the smartest guys in the room."

The documentary reinacts the suicide of Enron executive Cliff Baxter; exposes the magic tricks of CFO Andy Fastow, who had made millions for the company through shell companies that covered up Enron's staggering debt. One of the deceptively quiet raiders, Lou Pai, a right-hand man for Skilling, was a mysterious figure with a penchant for strippers -- who cashed in his stock options and ran off with hundreds of millions of Enron's dollars.

Whistleblower Sherron Watkins' interviews illumioates the inner workings of Enron's corporate culture. Indeed, the callousness and heartlessness of these go-getters are revealed throughout the documentary. Yet the most depressing part is that the Enron scandal could only have happened by so many accountants, lawyers, Wall Street traders, investment bank analysts, and government regulators looking the other way for years. They enabled Enron's corporate corruption to grow. They were too compromised to speak the truth in the face of power. As a result, millions of ordinary investors were royally screwed, and thousands of Enron employees lost their life savings.


Smarting   August 14, 2006
 2 out of 3 found this review helpful

It was never a corporation that was going to get a fair hearing. If there is any defence in one of the most nauseating cases of corporate pillaging, self-aggrandisement and greed it was not going to be seen in this film, shown in Brixton's Ritzy Cinema. The chalk board on the door to the screen set the scene.

What emerges is a staggering story of a corporation romping over the established rules and procedures, riding the bull market to new highs and only crashing down when the people saw that the

The truly tragic thing is not the tales of the various executives, marketing men and lawyers. Some of them lost their jobs, but soon found others. The criminals went to jail, and had their ill-gotten gains confiscated. But the real victims were only fleetingly shown. This was a sole complaint in the otherwise masterly editing of this film. A thorough investigation in to the losses borne by the pensioners and pension holders would have presented a truly staggering contrast to the corporate greed on clear display.

What does emerge is a smattering of personal stories which gives some idea of the extent of the damage done. Private pensions shrunk from 350,000 to $1,500. And with it the dreams of a comfortable retirement destroyed. These were the ordinary people, long-term employees with rock solid utility companies who had invested everything with their new parent company, Enron. With promises of riches for all, they funded the bloated, wallowing greed, and they paid the ultimate price for its inevitable failure.


Very compelling for a non-fiction story   November 20, 2006
My wife didn't know much about this story though I was pretty up to speed on what happened...it had a lot of impact on both of us. Greed can transform the human character into something we all fear and don't want to think is in any of us.
Highly recommended!