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The payoff of this documentary comes in a set of deliciously evil audio tapes of Enron energy traders causing California power outages for their own financial gain. Enron, as this film makes clear, was not so much a scandal as a multi-billion-dollar den of thieves seeking out and exploiting every opportunity to steal coins out of old ladies’ pocketbooks, from its inception in 1985 until its collapse in the fall of 2001. Viewers who never quite understood the crookery behind the talk of mark-to-market accounting and deregulated energy markets are well served by writer/director Alex Gibney, who uses every device in the documentarian’s tool kit to convey the story to a general audience. Unfortunately, he relies too heavily on Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, whose book inspired the film. The two, who appear as talking heads throughout, view Enron’s executives as grand figures with good intentions whose pride led to a terrible fall. On-camera interviews with former employees reinforce that view. But it doesn’t fit the facts on the screen — for example, that 18 months after creating Enron, CEO Kenneth Lay was rewarding employees for flagrant but profitable lawbreaking. The film also lobs vague accusations at worthy targets — the banks, accountants, and politicians who enabled Enron — without sorting out their culpability. The director even flubs those magnificent audio tapes by trying to explain and justify the traders’ behavior. If only he had sought commentary beyond the capitalism boosters at Fortune and former Enron greedheads. (110 minutes)
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
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