Strange, that there has not been more anger over the Enron scandals.Early in the film, there's a striking image. We hear Enron traders laughing about "Grandma Millie," a hypothetical victim of the rolling blackouts, and boasting about the millions they made for Enron. Using tape recordings of Enron traders on the phone with California power plants, the film chillingly overhears them asking plant managers to "get a little creative" in shutting down plants for "repairs." Between 30 percent and 50 percent of California's energy industry was shut down by Enron a great deal of the time, and up to 76 percent at one point, as the company drove the price of electricity higher by nine times. There was never a shortage of power in California. The most shocking material in the film involves the fact that Enron cynically and knowingly created the phony California energy crisis. It is best when it sticks to fact, shakier when it goes for visual effects and heavy irony. It is assembled out of a wealth of documentary and video footage, narrated by Peter Coyote, from testimony at congressional hearings, and from interviews with such figures as disillusioned Enron exec Mike Muckleroy and whistle-blower Sherron Watkins. The documentary is based on the best-selling book of the same title, co-written by Fortune magazine's Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind.
#THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM DOCUMENTARY MOVIE#
The movie argues that it was a con game almost from the start. There is a general impression that Enron was a good corporation that went bad. It tells the story of how Enron rose to become the seventh largest corporation in America with what was essentially a Ponzi scheme, and in its last days looted the retirement funds of its employees to buy a little more time.
No matter what your politics, "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" will make you mad. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
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