Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

I had a chance to catch two movies this weekend.

The first, Kingdom of Heaven, was hell.

At one point I turned to my wife and whispered, "What, did they have to save money by cutting out the climactic battle scene?"

It was the only remotely-entertaining line uttered during the entire movie.

The second film I caught was Alex Gibney's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (provided to me on DVD; in theaters now).

It's a beautifully-made documentary about the greatest corporate fraud scheme of our time.

Enron captures a broader picture than its title suggests. More than simply laying out the evidence against Ken Lay and the boys, the film is an indictment against our increasingly casino-like economy. To come away from the film thinking that the collapse of Enron was the result of a "few bad apples" is to miss the point entirely: seemingly everyone was in on the game, including such stalwarts as Merril Lynch, Citibank, and -- of course-- Arthur Anderson. All it takes is the enticement of a few extra million dollars, it seems, and nearly all of corporare America is willing to look the other way, suspend disbelief, and shill on CNBC for the latest ponzi scheme.

Even more than Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911, Enron captures the zeitgeist of our corrupt age. One need only look at the rapid growth in market share of ARM mortgages-- predatory lending, a tax (as they say about the lottery) on those who are bad at math and history-- to realize that corporate America has learned nothing from the Enron scandal. Propping up bubbles remains good busines practice-- so long as you're able to cash out first.

Highly recommended.