ALEX GIBNEY
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BBBBB.
USA, 2005. Jigsaw Productions, 2929 Productions, HDNet Films. Screenplay by Peter Elkind, Alex Gibney, Bethany McLean. Cinematography by Maryse Alberti. Produced by Alison Ellwood, Alex Gibney, Jason Kliot, Susan Motamed. Music by Matthew Hauser. Film Editing by Alison Ellwood. Academy Awards 2005. Independent Spirit Awards 2005. Online Film Critics Awards 2005. Washington Film Critics Awards 2005.
Riveting documentary that describes the rise and fall of one of America’s most incredible business stories. Energy corporation Enron goes from being the seventh largest company in the United States to bankruptcy within a year thanks to Midas-level greed among its head honchos. Their book-cooking techniques scam millions of dollars that, when revealed, leave thousands of employees without any retirement savings. Released before the ultimate trials that led to Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling‘s convictions (which in Lay’s case prompted a fatal heart attack), this film will still hold you captive as you watch the company’s extremely successful stock prices go from high rolls to mere pennies by the time of Enron’s demise. Director Alex Gibney does a marvelous job of balancing the number-crunching with the human elements of the story, pacing the film with some fantastic editing, incendiary testimonies and an impressively rich soundtrack to produce one of the most entertaining (and terrifying) documentaries in recent years.
