The Insider (1999)

 The Insider (1999) is based on the true story of a man Jeffrey Wigand (played by Russell Crowe) who works as a senior scientist in a big tobacco company (Brown and Wlliamson) who decides to reveal the information he has about how the top executives of the tobacco industry had known (and concealed) research evidence about the effects of nicotine on smokers’ health. In his professional capacity as the head of Research and Development for Brown and Williamson Wigand comes across research that he believes is jeopardizing public health. However, the top management at B&W ignore his concerns, fire him from his job, and try to shackle him using an elaborate non-disclosure agreement. Ultimately, Wigand meets Lowell Bergmann (played by Al Pacino) who is able to get his interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes and have him testify about the ill effects of tobacco and smoking in Mississipi. In the end, the efforts of Wigand, Bergmann, and others who staked their careers and lives bear fruit and the tobacco industry had to pay a $246B to settle a lawsuit brought against it by the state of Mississipi and others.

This movie is primarily about corporate whistle-blowers and how when one person in a company decides to speak up against unethical or illegal behavior, his (or her) life and the life of others around him (or her) is drastically affected. But the movie is not just about one whistle-blower, it is about two men who knew they had to stand up against the unacceptable behavior of the top executives in their company- Wigand and Bergmann. Wigand can not accept that the CEOs of the seven big tobacco company (“the seven dwarfs” he calls them) lied on oath to the Congress about the evidence related to the effects of tobacco. Bergmann is unable to accept that CBS will not air the tell-all interview Wigand gave about how big tobacco ruined his life to prevent him from speaking about what tobacco companies were hiding. In the end, both men did what they thought was right, but they paid a heavy price for doing the right thing.

The movie is long, but worth watching!   

(If anybody who is reading this was involved in any of the incidents presented in the movie, we would love to hear from you!)

The China Syndrome (1979)

 The China Syndrome (1979) is thriller story about a sudden unexpected breakdown at a nuclear power plant. Two TV reporters, played by Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas, are in a nuclear plant for a news-report on energy production. The two unexpectedly become witness to what they later realize is a cover-up at the nuclear plant. The company they work for is not interested in running the news story and the nuclear plant will do anything to hide the break-down from the public. The two reporters manage to get to the heart of the story with the help of a whistle-blower, who ends up being killed in trying to prevent the plant for pursuing business interests over serious safety issues.

I am not sure what people thought about the plot when the movie was being made or on the day it was released, but within a few days of its release The Three Mile Islands accident happened at a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. (For an official summary of the accident click here). Many scientists believe that nuclear energy is the future. The movie and the accident that followed it was a wake-up call for many that the dangers associated with nuclear plants are very real.

This movie was also a great example of the dangers associated with whistle-blowing. The whistle-blower at the nuclear plant was just trying to do what he thought was the right thing to do. We talk a lot about whistle-blowing in schools and colleges encouraging our students to speak up when they see something wrong in their workplace, the movie is about how far things can go for whistle-blowers.     

Enron- The smartest guys in the room

 The movie- Enron: The smartest guys in the room (2005)- is based on a book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. It examines one of the biggest corporate scandals in the U.S. history- the unexpected sudden collapse of one of the largest corporations in the world. It introduces us to Ken Lay (“Kenny Boy”), Jeff Skilling (“a former nerd”), Andy Fastow, and others who were the top dogs at Enron.  The  movie combines insider accounts, C-span clips, voice-over effects, and corporate audio and video tapes to present the why, how, and to what effect of the Enron saga. Worth watching, I believe.

What really happened at Enron? Were the activities and events at Enron any different from those in other big corporation? Why did nobody speak up when they were making money off Enron stock? How did Enron top management manage to fool the media, journalists, employees, and the public for so long? I doubt these questions will ever be completely answered. For most people, Enron is already history- Something that happened in the past.

   

Wall Street

 Wall Street is a movie about two men- a young, ambitious broker Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) and a Wall Street legend Garden Gekko (Michael Douglas). Bud is an impressionable upstart who is impressed by the power and status Gekko has. Gekko, on his part, is a good judge of people- He sees the ambition in Bud’s eyes and the weakness in his character. Gekko offers to help Bud succeed on Wall Street and Bud gets pulled into Gekko’s world, even as it takes him away from his own father. A must see movie for every person interested in the business world!

When President Clinton campaigned in 1992 he promised to end the greed culture of the 1980s. Garden Gekko took the opposite stand- “Greed is Good” he declared emphatically. Most people don’t know that the “Greek is Good” speech that Gekko gave in this movie is based on an actual speech Ivan Boesky, a russian immigrant who was a major player in the 1980s Wall Street insider trading scandal, delivered at the University of California-Berkeley in 1986.