Enron: The Smartest Guys in The Room (2002)

Well Done

Excellent documentary. My ONLY beef is that they had a topless woman in near the beginning. Doesn't really bother me, but I am a university instructor so I had to edit that part out for when I play it in class. I'm not sure why they thought it was important to have a 5 second scene with topless women. Not necessary to get their point across. January 2, 2009

Fantastic

This documentary is indicative of what has happened at the various financial institutions on Wall Street that has led to the collapse of our economy. The Commodities Futures Modernization Act, Mark to Market Accounting, repeal of Glass Steagall, etc., are THE causes. The collapse never would have happened because a small percentage of people foreclosed on their mortgages. It was the what was done with those mortgages (how they were sold and traded) that was the real crime. This documentary shows what happened at Enron. The audio tapes of the traders and what they did is astounding and infuriating. Most of this stuff never made it to the news media. You did not see 1/10th of the criminal behaviour that went on at this place on your "TV News". I highly recommend this documentary to anyone who wants to see how things work....and how they won't change until this legislation is changed to prevent this type of behaviour. December 13, 2008

Excellent Doco on Enron Scandal

I was so impressed by Alex Gibney's "Taxi to the Dark Side" (about the Bush administration's own unconscionable actions in the so-called War on Terror)that I decided to check out his film on the Enron debacle, and I was not disappointed.

The collapse of Enron is, of course, a cautionary tale of ethics left behind in the quest for the almighty dollar.

What is impressive about this film is the way the money manipulations are explained so even non-PhD's can follow the trail of fraud. Basically the company used a new form of accounting that allowed them to claim potential future profits as current gains, hiding billions in losses from global investments gone bad.

At the same time, the film also focuses on the culture of greed that flourished at Enron, encouraged at every step by its top dogs, notably "Kenny Boy" (friend to the Bush family) Lay, Jeff Skilling, and CFO Andy Fastow, and enabled by everyone from banks and investment firms like Citibank, Credit Suisse, and Merrill Lynch to the President of the United States.

I didn't know about Enron's involvement in the California energy crisis that allowed the Republicans to drive Governor Grey Davis from office and install the Governator. Again, Bush was involved in the scandal -- by doing nothing to intervene in the chaos that enveloped the state, with energy prices soaring and blackouts taking place on a daily basis.

The film implies, but does not state, the actual cost to the state not just in money, but in lives potentially lost during the various blackouts.

Again, to disrupt and even threaten the lives of so many innocent citizens just so a posse of traders could help their corrupt superiors make enough money to conceal their mounting losses -- it just makes you sick.

And then the film reminds us that at the collapse of Enron, the top guys managed to sell many of their shares before the value had plummeted. The poor shlubs at the bottom -- including electrical workers at companies acquired by Enron -- lost virtually all their pensions.

Given the stink of this catastrophe unfolding in early 2001, one has to wonder about the curious timing of the year's even greater catastrophe -- 9/11 -- and the one person who gained most from the debacle, a guy named Bush.

There's plenty of food for thought here, including the reprint of the original article in Fortune that questioned Enron's math, and another revealing the complicity of the major banks in helping Fastow and Enron conceal the growing hole that threatened to swallow them whole.

Is it any wonder why our blue-chip financial institutions are failing at a record pace? They are rotting from the ravages of deregulation, and the mess started under Reagan.

I'm going to have to keep an eye on Gibney -- and see if he has directed any other eye-openers like this film and "Taxi".



November 24, 2008

Enron DVD

Well this did not work out the way I'd hoped. I could not use the DVD in either my brand new HD DVD player or my older one. Nor did it work in the DVD player at the political office where I wanted to show it either. It only worked on my computer. So I was not able to use it for the purpose I desired. October 30, 2008

It's a few years old, but NOT out-dated

Don't think that this story is "old" and without relevance. We are all still feeling the effects today, and the same kinds of things are still happening. The makers of this film are fond of saying "it's not a movie about numbers, but about people," and that is true. It's a compelling story, well told, in an artistic fashion.

I've owned this DVD since it was first released and watched it well over a dozen times. I never tire of it, and the bonus features, such as the director's commentary, make it all the more interesting and informative.

Even if you are not particularly interested in business, politics, Enron, or stocks, you will enjoy this movie because it's interesting and well-made. October 19, 2008

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