Documentary-athon

Left to my own devices here over Thanksgiving, I watched three documentaries. Perhaps this explains why Garrett cleared out back to SJSU yesterday. Hmm.

• Enron -- The Smartest Guys in the Room. This was a bit more of a people story than Conspiracy of Fools, a terrific and gripping book on the Enron mess. But, if you want the short version of how one of America's top corporations got built like a house of cards, only to come crashing down, this is an excellent DVD to see. Seems timely given the shenanigans in the financial marketplace today thanks to money manipulators repackaging shaky sub-prime loans into investment grade financial instruments.
  
• No End in Sight. I'm not sure if it's possible to read or see anything on the topic of Iraq that doesn't come off as a political statement rather than an even-handed examination of events. This DVD is no exception, although it seems to make an attempt. It mainly examines the lack of planning and the long-lasting impact of decisions made in 2003 (e.g., disbanding the Iraqi army, de-Baathification, etc) as they led to the chaos we are still dealing with today.
• Sicko. I'm not a big Michael Moore fan, although I've seen both Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 911. He'd be a lot better if he just knew when to stop. Sicko is another great example of the problem. I suspect even our most virulent free-marketers would give a grudging acknowledgment to the skill with which Moore makes the logical case for universal healthcare in the first two-thirds of the movie. But, when he packs up 9/11 rescue workers and brings them to Cuba to get medical treatment, he seems to make a conscious decision to give the finger to a big part of his potential audience. Too bad, since this is a good movie addressing an important topic that impacts all of us.

All of them were worth watching. Maybe some lighter fare from Netflix next time, though.