Enron The smartest Guy in The Room Movie - Essay Example

“Enron The smartest Guy in The Room” movie very well sketches the entire history of Enron, from its foundation till downfall. The chain of events from the Enron’s rise to final days has very well been portrayed in the movie. The artists are former employees of the corporation, as well as reporters who give an account of the mannerisms of top heads involved in the fraud and their inherent strengths and weakness .They give their own interpretations about the main incidents, which led to the bankruptcy of the corporation.

(Findarticles.com ) It's more than a movie - it can be termed a case by case in-depth analysis of a giant corporate company detailing the reason for its downfall. The movie represents a sort of flashback sequence of events narrated by insiders of Enron, along with intermittent logical captions that would unlock the imagination of any movie watcher. Indeed, this makes the movie quite different from other similar movies of its genre. As a result, it has been able to truly reveal to the public the magnitude of Enron scandal and how it hurt the interests of its employees and shareholders.

The legal issues and complications that were caused by the Enron scandal have become a black mark in American corporate history. (Findarticles.com ) The movie starts with a flashback showing the suicide of Cliff Baxter, a top executive of the Enron Corporation. It also gives a brief biography of Kenneth Lay who founded Enron in the year 1985. It shows the gradual transition and growth of Kenneth Lay from an ordinary lad to the one of the most influential business tycoons of America’s corporate world who ultimately was put behind bars.

It also describes the characters in detail, particularly with reference to Kenneth Lay who had close connections with the Bush administration from the very beginning. Lay was a strong supporter of deregulating of the entire natural gas energy sector within the US. Deregulation occured because Lay could bring in huge profits for the energy companies due to their operations in a free market. (Findarticles.com ) Indeed, the movie captivates the imagination of viewers, since it brings forth clear motives of a group of fraud, who were hailed as the smartest and most intelligent men of the modern world.

It shows how crooks could operate efficiently with the help and support of government and financial institutions to loot public money and squander it to meet their selfish ends. The film gives the viewers a clear picture of Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and CFO Andrew Fastow, who were masterminds behind the accounting malpractice that brought in the Enron scandal. It shows how executives of big financial institutions were paid millions of dollars to hide the debts of Enron. The Californian power blackouts which have been attributed to power play of the Enron officials is one eloquent example of public outrage.

(Findarticles.com ) It is quite pathetic to watch the plight of employees of this giant corporation, who were not aware of the motives of top officials and worked tirelessly for the growth of their company, ultimately to find that they became jobless and lost their pension funds. It shows the recklessness of officials of financial institutions and share traders who jointly brought disrepute to their own organisations, through misappropriations and greed. But, as the saying goes, who has risen to the top through unfair means has to ultimately fall down.

This became true for Enron which had a meteoric rise through fraudulent practices and ultimately turned into shambles. The movie shows various instances of the questioning of top officials of Enron, through video recordings of court room proceedings and the charges that they faced. It gives a very clear message to the audience that fame and money earned through evil practices will be finally reclaimed, and that the guilty will be brought to justice. Incidents that led to unravelling of the Enron scandal have been brilliantly captured in the form of interviews of various officials who right from the very beginning suspected and questioned the accounting practices at Enron.

(Findarticles.com ) The movie ends with a strong note from former officials and staff of Enron, who give a grim picture of their organisation and the bleak future that they face due to loss of jobs and pension funds. The movie itself is an eye-opener for the millions of people around the world, regarding the malpractices that can be fabricated by corrupt officials of both private and government organisations. At the same time it enlightens the average shareholders to think twice before investing in shares based only upon tips from share traders and biased market information.

In short, the movie passes on a strong message to the myriad of companies and business establishments across the globe that calls to maintain transparency in the financial statements published for the outside world, otherwise they can face capital punishment and downfall, as in the case of Enron. To conclude, it can be truly stated that the whole film has been a masterpiece which must be seen by the public to be aware of how crooks along with power play of government officials could spoil and loot national wealth.

References: Sargent A., Mark. “The real scandal: Enron’s ‘crimes’ were legal – legality of Enron’s business practices is examined”. (n.d.) Findarticles.com. March 08. 2002. Web.