“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.
Crash: Second Review
Just enjoyed this movie with Lana, Liz and Jenny. It was amazing. This is one of those movies where you have a lot of different characters going through different things and it all ties together in the end. Liz said she heard somebody compare this to Magnolia which is true only on the basest levels, but as a whole the movies are very, very different.
This movie deals with so many things it’s hard to know what to describe first. You have a woman dealing with anger. You have a man disgusted with his co-worker and trying to do the right thing on the job. You have several people dealing with racism on different levels. There is a son trying to do everything right and a mother who is worried about her other son. There are men trying to take care of their families and there children trying to protect their parents. There’s cops and robbers, country and hip-hop, love and violence….this movie has just about a little of everything in it.
One of the ‘tag-lines’ or quotes or whatever you want to call it is Don Cheadle talking about how we’re so worried about making contact with people. We’re so uptight about having our own personal space and not getting close to people. It’s actually pretty true if you think about it. When is the last time weren’t afraid to pickup a hitchhiker or accept a ride from somebody while walking? When is the last time you offered to help a total stranger when they obviously were in a bind? When is the last time you realized that everybody is human and no matter how weird or strange they are, they still feel awkward and vulnerable and just want to be liked and have friends?
After the movie we all agreed there was solid acting all around…even with Brendan Fraser in it - and that’s a bold statement. Bold like those A1 commercials. This film contains drama, comedy, tragedy and even a tad bit of action, depending on how you look on it. It even almost made me cry. I’d say this movie has the potential to stretch ya and make you think if you let it. If you’re a fan of Clint Eastwood you might want to check this one out. It sorta follows Clint’s anti-happy ending theme. This is definitely going on my buy list.
Hey Neville - I just looked here after posting and didn’t know you had just posted about the very same movie. Instead of deleting or trying to add a comment I’ve decided to just leave it and see if we said anything similar.