Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

"Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room" is the first great documentary of 2005, and it will no doubt be nominated and might very will next year's Oscar. For someone who heard of Enron only after its dirty dealings, I was so grateful that the film attempted to show the before and after company; essentially, the company at the top of the slide and the company now in the bottom, wallowing in the mud.

"Enron" is not short on facts, which is helpful considering the array of complexities to be found in the scandal at large. But what I found to be most fascinating is how the filmmakers and editors and (in the end, the director) wanted to make the biggest corporate scandal of the century a spiritual matter. The film's opening shot is of a church, with the words "JESUS SAVES" on top of it, placed in front of Enron's tall, seemingly reflective skyscraper. The camera zooms out, and little is said but what is the point of such a shot? Why are the filmmakers making this comparison? For one obvious reason, could it be to say that corporate America is the new Christianity? Or possibly more simply put, corporate spirituality has replaced Christian spirituality? The initial shot is a powerful one but it doesn't get explained (which is a good thing). Later on, toward the film's end, a priest is interviewed concerning what happened with Enron and rightly so, he quotes Jesus in the book of Matthew concerning "gaining the world, and losing one's soul." If there were ever a more relevant movie to illustrate such a passage of Scripture, I'd love to see it...because "Enron" may very well be the best exegesis of this specific biblical text I've ever encountered. "Enron: THe Smartest Guys In The Room" makes its case in point, without being preachy or attaching itself to Christianity. It merely is showing you the scandal, showing you how it got so bad, showing you how people lied and cheated and stole from the middle and lower class of American citizens, and most importantly, showing you how perhaps the corporate criminals may be much worse than any gang member in L.A., or any kid's school shooting in America.

By the film's end, I was shocked, disappointed and moved---not to tears, but to frustration and feelings of injustice. And all I could see in my head was the picture of Enron's CEO in a nice, sporty suit. Standing there, posing for the cover of a magazine, acting as if he has it all together and has the world figured out. What a sad truth and fate for him to find out that the ground he built is life upon was so fake, so phony and so terribly dishonest, that the entire state of California (and the rest of the world for that matter) would not be untouched by his harmful and ultimately self-centered life.

And remember, this can happen again. And more likely than not, it will sooner or later.

See this movie as soon as you can.