At the time of its release in 2005, Alex Gibney's Oscar-nominated documentary seemed a skillful examination of an unsavory bit of recent American history. In 2010, the film has only gained in power: meticulously researched and crafted, it tells a most prophetic tale-and should be essential viewing for anyone who thinks that the Great Recession began with subprime mortgages. Unfolding with all the suspense of a corporate thriller, Gibney's film details how Enron, Fortune's “most innovative company,” became shorthand for spectacular corporate failure. Melding brief reenactment sequences with thoughtful interviews and amazing archival footage, The Smartest Guys in the Room focuses largely on the compulsive, competitive men who made the energy trader into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Most crucially, the film shows how federal deregulation policies created the vacuum in which Enron operated-and how banks habitually turned a blind eye. As one interviewee correctly says, “it's a story about people; it's a human tragedy.” It is also history, begging us to stop it from repeating.