Enron: The Smatest Guys in the Room film review

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ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM

The main protagonists of this chilling documentary, in addition to being referred to as the 'Smartest guys in the room', could just as easily have been dubbed the 'greediest, most dishonest guys in the room'. Director Alex Gibney's film, based on Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind's book The Smartest Guys In The Room: The Amazing Rise And Scandalous Fall Of Enron, unveils the events behind one of the most shameful corporate episodes in American history.

For those unfamiliar with the intricacies of high finance and the business world, E:TSGITR offers a fascinating, not to mention frightening, insight into how a company that doesn't appear to produce anything is able to quickly rise to become the seventh largest corporation in America and then even more quickly spectacularly disintegrate. The story of Enron is a cautionary one that should provide a lesson for everyone, but for former Enron vice-president Cliff Baxter, who committed suicide as a result of the impending disgrace, and the poor unfortunate victims whose lifelong pensions were wiped out, it comes too late.

Elkind has captivating and condemning footage of Enron employees, in particular its CEOs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, both of whom were subsequently indicted and are now on trial on various charges including fraud and insider trading for their roles in Enron's unscrupulous dealings. It shows Skilling urging employees to invest their 401k retirement pension funds in the company at the same time as he himself is selling off $200m of his shares. It exemplifies the arrogance of the company as it dumps its losses off on phony offshore companies, two of which are brazenly named M. Smart and M.Yass.

In one of the film's most alarming sequences it shows how Enron both created and exploited the electricity crisis in California. It plays taped conversations between Enron traders and power plant workers in which the traders encourage the plant workers to be “creative” in shutting down some plants in order to increase the value of the electricity stock which Enron dealt in.

With the benefit of the hindsight the documentary provides, it's easy to see the warning signs. What it also shows, which is more revealing, is that people are only too happy to believe almost anything, even in the absence of substantiating evidence, when it offers the possibility of riches.

Kevin Murphy