Alex Gibney/USA/2005; R4
Magna Pacific, NZ$29.95 | Reviewed by Ewan Kingston

IN DECEMBER 2001, a company named by Fortune magazine as “America's most innovative” for six consecutive years filed for bankruptcy. Its stock had fallen from ninety dollars per share to a mere fifteen cents. The next month, the US Department of Justice began a criminal investigation of the company. Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room is the tale of Enron's downfall, and an investigation of what it means for society.

As Bethany Mclean puts it, fundamentally the Enron story is a story “about people, not complicated transactions”. Focusing on the personal side to the story does not mean, thankfully, a sensationalist expose or sentimental tear-jerker, the film is much smarter than that.

In part this intelligence is provided by a searching question: the documentary asks to what extent should the Enron debacle be explained by deep systemic problems in the world of business, rather than the actions of a handful of ‘baddies’. While there is a definite focus on the top execs – those whose nickname within the company gives the film it’s subtitle – that's not the end of the story. With a measured touch director Alex Gibney makes a compelling argument that it is the structure of modern business, as much as the individuals, that created the monster that was Enron. The film shows the complicity of not just the perps – the fraudulent Andy Fastow, megalomaniac CEO Jeff “I am Enron” Skilling, the shmoozy Kenneth Lay, but casts its gaze much wider.

Up for scrutiny, and appearing very far from spotless are the major banking companies involved with Enron, obedient stock analysts and the macho dirt-biking culture of Enron itself. Most chilling of all is the evident links between the Bush dynasty and Enron. For example, we see a remarkable video valediction to a departing Enron exec featuring a fawning George Senior and Junior.

It is partly this kind of primary-source footage that makes the film such great viewing. (It's a real shame we couldn't see more or get any kind of commentary* – no extras on this DVD). The story is told with an excellent mix of courtroom footage, interviews with Enron employees from all levels, analysis from the authors who penned the bestselling book the film was based on. Expert cultural commentary of The Simpsons even gets a look-in. But especially riveting is the inside footage: Skilling explaining to Enron employees his justification for firing one fifth of staff each year, and phone recordings of Enron traders chuckling and jeering at Californian blackouts caused by Enron's unethical energy trading tactics.

With such strong footage, Gibney can allow the viewer to join the dots, and lays off emotional manipulation a la Michael Moore. We don't need to be told how to feel when we hear traders giving code names like “Death Star” to immoral trading schemes or watch Lay reassure employees that their stock will again rise, knowing he sold stock worth reputedly seventy million.

Can a layperson follow it? Certainly. Occasionally Enron slips into jargon but is by and large very accessible. The story of how the company exploited “mark to market” accounting, a de-regulated power market, and developed massive insider trading schemes is unpacked well. Is it universal? Definitely. Rather than just a corporate whodunit, it has surprising depth of human insight. True to Mclean's promise of a people story, Enron manages to relate the wheelings and dealings to subject matter such as evolutionary psychology and Milgram's studies on obedience. The psychological insights that the business world can offer us are rich here. The affair, as one Enron employee reflects, could cause one to “see [one's own] shadow”. It's also undeniable that this documentary is important viewing outside the United States. As the whistleblower Sherron Watkins states “this could happen anywhere”.


An excellent companion piece to The Corporation, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room reminds us, clearly and carefully, how foolish it is to trust both our livelihood and our souls to what we hear Ronald Reagan calling in this film “the magic of the market”.