2010:
Whilst I had read the odd piece or two,I did not pay much attention to in-depth investigative journalism.Getting home late one night,I decided to look at what was being shown on TV,and I found that the BBC were just about to show a documentary on a company called Enron.
With having not heard about Enron before,I expected the doc to be a light- hearted affair which would show the day to day workings of the company.Catching me completely by surprise,the documentary detailed Enron's corrupt dealings piece by piece,with an excellent clarity.
2015:
As I approached my 800th review,I decided that it was the perfect time to once again watch what has now become my favourite documentary,and 8th favourite film of all time,as I got set to ask Enron,"Why?"
View on the film:
Covering Enron from Ken Lay's lobbying days in Washington to Enron hitting the previously hidden iceberg in under 2 hours,director Alex Gibney's adaptation of the Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind book The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron,displays a remarkable precision in placing every piece of the Enron scandal on a table which allows the viewer to approach the subject in an accessible manner.
Keeping away from turning the title into a dry lecture, Gibney smartly decides to stay behind the camera and allow for former associates of Enron to do the talking in fascinating interviews,with Gibney and editor Alison Ellwood brilliantly inter-cutting archive footage and a pitch-perfect soundtrack to emphasis some of the most openly corrupt moments in Enron's history.
Linking up the time-line of Enron's ("Enron will never fail") collapse, Peter Coyote delivers a wonderful narration,which gives a real gravitas to proceedings.
Giving the film a stylish sheen, Gibney closely works with Maryse Alberti to make glass (which is not related to a Philip Glass track being on the soundtrack!) a subtle motif for the film,as Gibney's reflecting glass shows that before the ongoing world-wide financial crisis led to the "too big to fail" banks smashing into a previously hidden iceberg,there was Enron.
Whilst I had read the odd piece or two,I did not pay much attention to in-depth investigative journalism.Getting home late one night,I decided to look at what was being shown on TV,and I found that the BBC were just about to show a documentary on a company called Enron.
With having not heard about Enron before,I expected the doc to be a light- hearted affair which would show the day to day workings of the company.Catching me completely by surprise,the documentary detailed Enron's corrupt dealings piece by piece,with an excellent clarity.
2015:
As I approached my 800th review,I decided that it was the perfect time to once again watch what has now become my favourite documentary,and 8th favourite film of all time,as I got set to ask Enron,"Why?"
View on the film:
Covering Enron from Ken Lay's lobbying days in Washington to Enron hitting the previously hidden iceberg in under 2 hours,director Alex Gibney's adaptation of the Bethany McLean & Peter Elkind book The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron,displays a remarkable precision in placing every piece of the Enron scandal on a table which allows the viewer to approach the subject in an accessible manner.
Keeping away from turning the title into a dry lecture, Gibney smartly decides to stay behind the camera and allow for former associates of Enron to do the talking in fascinating interviews,with Gibney and editor Alison Ellwood brilliantly inter-cutting archive footage and a pitch-perfect soundtrack to emphasis some of the most openly corrupt moments in Enron's history.
Linking up the time-line of Enron's ("Enron will never fail") collapse, Peter Coyote delivers a wonderful narration,which gives a real gravitas to proceedings.
Giving the film a stylish sheen, Gibney closely works with Maryse Alberti to make glass (which is not related to a Philip Glass track being on the soundtrack!) a subtle motif for the film,as Gibney's reflecting glass shows that before the ongoing world-wide financial crisis led to the "too big to fail" banks smashing into a previously hidden iceberg,there was Enron.