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A chilling account of capitalism run amock
by Ravanne (movies profile)
Aug 1, 2007
42
of
42 people found this review helpful
In the movie "Wall Street" we got the saying that greed is good. But what happens when greed overtakes all other considerations? What happens when you take a powerful corporation with political clout and remove any hint of regulation? You get a disaster like Eron, which this documentary shows in vivid, often chilling detail.
Having the luxury of nearly 2 uninterupted hours to lay out their case, the filmmakers present a damning array of evidence against Enron figures like Lay and Skilling that showed corporate arrogance and greed at its worst. It lays out the case that almost from the beginning, Eron lay the seeds of its own destruction. In the end, the corporation that influence state and national politics and counted a president as a close ally became nothing more than an elaborate pyramid scheme.
There are many losers in this sad tale. The people of California that were so shamelessly gouged by Enron energy traders. The employees who lost their retirement savings while heads of their company pocketed millions, given 30 minutes to empty their desks and leave the building when Enron declaired bankrupcy. There are heroes in the form of the whistle blowers who had the courage to speak out against what the company they were working for was doing.
And there are definite villins. Lay and his cronnies who pleaded ignorance while their employees manipulated accounts, hid the real economic health of the company from its shareholders and victimized all who had dealings with Enron. There are the accountants and banks, who when given the chance to rein in this rogue company instead went along for the ride since they were making too much money to derail the gravy train. And government officals who ignored the damage that Enron was leaving in its wake in the name of deregulation.
The filmmakers had the skill to take corporate law, which can be dry and confusing to the average lay person, and allow it to be clearly understood. People watching this film will get a clear grasp of just what happened within this company and force us to ask the question of what protections do we have to prevent other companies that lack a moral compass from following Enron's example.
Enron's motto for years was "Ask Why", to force people to think outside the box and consider what was never thought of before. This movie forces the audience to ask that same question as well. |
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