Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room

The central text for this project is the film Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room by filmmaker Alex Gibney. This film investigates, documents and then exposes the many moves that led to the collapse of Enron. The director focuses on the chief leaders of the corporation as his principal characters in order to develop the story as a human tragedy. Throughout the course of the film, each leading character is revealed. All players were found to be distinct in their strategies and methods. However, all were alike in their attitude and way of thinking. Each one was goal-driven and each found a way, by whatever means possible, to achieve their desired end: making money. Gibney incorporates many strategic moves into this film that contribute
to his overall argument. The one strategy that I found most effective throughout the film and that I would like to focus on for this project is the use of accompanying music to specific scenes in the film. The song that was chosen for the scene of Lou Pai in the section of Guys with Spikes, was “Einstein on the Beach” by Philip Glass.
Lou Pai was described as being a man who was motivated only by money and strippers and that for him “it was all about the numbers.” This song is very repetitive with the beat, rhythm and the lyrics. When listening to this song there is a feeling of being in a daze or a semiconscious state. The song is somewhat hypnotic and trancelike. When paying close attention to the song, three different voices are made out. First there is a voice of a woman talking and it sounds like she is telling a story. Then, there are people singing the numbers in order. Lastly, and quite indistinctly, there is a person speaking the numbers in a random order. The mood that this song creates allows the viewer to experience the perspective of Lou Pai. The song is repetitive with numbers which suggests that this is what Lou Pai thought about all the time. The images of the strippers walking out only serves to enhance the belief that Lou Pai only cared about numbers because their footsteps add to the rhythm that the song provides. The song then gives the viewer the feeling of being inside Lou Pai’s mind and experiencing what he experienced during his years at Enron. Lou Pai’s obsession and manipulation with the numbers affirms that the collapse of Enron was the result of a human
tragedy. In the opening scene of the Kal-ee-for-nyah section, the song that accompanies the videos is “California” by Phantom Planet.
This song portrays a level of joy and excitement for what was being approached. The song at the beginning was paired up with the pleasing pictures of California with clear light blue skies, tall palm trees and the rollercoaster. These images of warmth and fun increased the feeling of enthusiasm that the song suggests. The lyrics from the song say things like “we’ve been on the run” and “here we come.” This foreshadows the negative events that will be displayed as soon as the traders begin to make unethical dealings. California was obviously considered a sort of treasure by Enron. The entire company and more specifically the traders felt a sense of triumph because they were taking over this state. In this scene, the song is juxtaposed with the audio tapes of the traders. This allows the viewer to understand exactly what the traders were thinking at the time of California's struggle. The filmmaker then suggests that Enron was a huge contributing factor of California's budget crisis. Consequently, the audio tapes and the song serve to uphold the argument that a human tragedy was the real story behind the dealings of
Enron. The music chosen for this film varies dramatically from scene to scene. At times it is slow paced and quiet while at other times it becomes lively and energized. Of all the scenes, the two mentioned above stood out to me the most in terms of creating perspective and setting the mood with music. One scene is from the section called Guys with Spikes where Lou Pai is formerly introduced and his workings are revealed. The second is the opening scene from the Kal-ee-for-nyah section where the sunny skies and tall palm trees of California are displayed. Both of these scenes are paired with songs that give further insight into the minds and views of the Enron chief leaders in order to support the argument that the downfall of Enron was truly a human tragedy.