Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room (Film Response)

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 documentary chronicling the highly publicized scandal of the Enron cooperation. Prior to it’s de-function in 2001, Enron was one of the top earning businesses in the stock market; placing number seven and earning $101 billion in revenue in 2000.

Enron was established as an energy cooperation and within fifteen years, the company employed approximately 20,000 people. The company was run by Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling and Andrew Fastow who were each involved in a private corruption scandal involving finances with merging companies such as LJM and Raptors.

The documentary begins with J. Clifford Baxter (a former Enron employee) committing suicide in result to the widespread scandal evolving around the cooperation. The film then begins to flashback on the events leading up to Baxter’s suicide, including the cooperate rise of Enron, it’s significance and it’s appeal in the stock market.

The two most interesting facts about the documentary was Enron’s influence in the stock market and their involvement in the California energy crisis. Apparently, the company hired a good P.R. team to gain a reputation of a well-endowed, highly-respected and well-earned business. For six years Enron was known as the “most admired” company by many magazines and publications such as Forbes. Although they were known to be a profitable organization, the company was actually more than $30 billion in debt.

The involvement between Enron and the California Energy Crisis was a bit disturbing. In an attempt to earn revenue, the company expanded westward and made connections with the California energy administration. Through traders, Enron corrupted the electricity for millions of residents in California, by rises funds and causing massive black-outs throughout the state.

Enron finally collapsed after many investors and business analyst discovered irregularities in it’s stock and financial statements. After its CEO, Skilling resigned the company begin to be placed in a microscope, since no CEO leaves a well profited business at it’s peak. It later came to be that Skilling along with Fastow, Lay and their accomplices swindled millions of dollars out of U.S. citizens and as a result were tried and received prison sentences.