This documentary, directed by Alex Gibney, explored the story surrounding the Enron scandal. In my opinion, the best part of the film was the way it really delved into the life stories/personalities of the key players in the affair. The narrative of the film moved at a fast pace and provided an element of suspense in a story that we already know the outcome to.
There also seemed to be an element of compassion for the lead figures at Enron who have commanded so much scorn. The filmmakers present the lives of these men in a way that suggests there were a number of paths they could have taken. Placed in other situations, they might have acted differently, but combined together in the seductive environment of fantastic corporate success, they seemed almost doomed to be consumed by greed.
The film was an excellent psychological study of what kind of person commits acts of fraud such as this. Not only did men like Skilling and Lay show no regard for the welfare of their employees, they were capable of lying to them to cover up Enron's failures, and to continue lying long after the charade was over. The section of the film which covered the blackouts in California was a particularly compelling example of how greed corrupts. The comparison to the Milgram experiments was also very clever.
It was definitely and informative film which portrayed a side of the Enron case you don't always see. Like The Intimacy of Strangers, the film was effective because it was disturbing. There seems to be no limit to greed, no amount of money that can satisfy those with a hunger. With the rise of huge multinational corporations we have lost personal accountability. In the corporate world we are all capable of just staring at a partition, complacently pushing a button marked 450 volts.
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