ENRON:THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM

2004 / USA

Nominated for the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Enron is a tight, fascinating chronicle of arrogance, conspiracy and greed. Throughout the 1990s Enron grew with astonishing speed to become one of America's largest corporations. But, as one subject notes, the whole enterprise was "a house of cards built over a pool of gasoline". When the empire collapsed in 2001, it took thousands of people's life savings with it.

The greed, corporate malpractice and breathtaking irresponsibility that led to the collapse were not just confined to the story's principal villains, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Noting the friendship between Mr Lay and the Bush family, and detailing Enron's role in the Californian energy crisis and the political destruction of Gray Davis, Enron lays bare the widespread moral deficit that created America's biggest bankruptcy. Like an impending train wreck, the sordid Enron tale is terrifying but compelling viewing.

"Scarier than The Amityville Horror, as scandalous as Fahrenheit 9/11 and loaded with more conspiracies than The Interpreter." - Rolling Stone


D/S Alex Gibney P Alex Gibney, Jason Kliot WS Dendy TD 35mm/ col/2005/109mins

Alex Gibney's films include Manufacturing Miracles (1988), Pacific Century (1992), Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (MIFF 05).

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