It is an extraordinary story. A CEO who has been arrested and charged but not yet convicted of embezzlement, smuggles himself out of Japan, via a corporate jet, by hiding in a big box. Its stuff out of a novel.
It is a well-made documentary but given most documentaries made today are pretty good anyway, to be exceptional it needs to give the viewer as many facts and let them decide on the conclusions. The problem with this film is that I found it wanting in facts.
We are told the rot set in when Ghosn was informed of 3 employees at Renault who leaked trade secrets on electric cars to the Chinese. So, Ghosn sacked them. Only then it was divulged the 3 employees were innocent and the whole thing was made up. People were questioning Ghosn's integrity. The way I saw it - who was the dude who made up the lies? Why was not the investigation about the source of the lie? Was Ghosn part of the conspiracy? Where was the evidence to support this if that was the case? The documentary had fewer answers than we needed. It was all up in the air with all the wrong question asked.
Ghosn than got in hot water because of his high salary (and a very lavish party he threw), but again, did he break the law? It may not be ethical but what he was doing was not illegal. So jealously plays a large part in his downfall. Ofcourse, the people seeing green could not get over the fact they were still in a job because of Ghosn, not inspite of him. This was the man who turned around a huge loss-making company into a profitable one. The fact he did it twice, for Renault and Nissan, says a lot about Ghosn business prowess and intelligence. Then again, given we are talking about the French and Japanese psyche, that could go in some way to explain why he was hated. Being of Arab origin, he just wasn't one of "us". To its credit the documentary address this.
The biggest issue I had was the lack of evidence presented about Ghosn's presumed embezzlement or possible tax avoidance. No facts were supplied. We were just told the Renault business set up numerous subsidiary companies, but we are also told other car manufactures do the same, so I am not sure why this was a big deal then? It was through these subsidiaries that Ghosn accumulated wealth, but no details were supplied on how the alleged embezzlement operated, how much was siphoned and who else was implicated?
I came away knowing less about Ghosn's charges than I did going into it. The documentary slants on the side of presumed innocence which given the absolute lack of evidence against the man, is the only position to take.
The only fact I came away with is the 99% conviction rate of people arrested in Japan and that goes to explain why Ghosn fled.
It is a well-made documentary but given most documentaries made today are pretty good anyway, to be exceptional it needs to give the viewer as many facts and let them decide on the conclusions. The problem with this film is that I found it wanting in facts.
We are told the rot set in when Ghosn was informed of 3 employees at Renault who leaked trade secrets on electric cars to the Chinese. So, Ghosn sacked them. Only then it was divulged the 3 employees were innocent and the whole thing was made up. People were questioning Ghosn's integrity. The way I saw it - who was the dude who made up the lies? Why was not the investigation about the source of the lie? Was Ghosn part of the conspiracy? Where was the evidence to support this if that was the case? The documentary had fewer answers than we needed. It was all up in the air with all the wrong question asked.
Ghosn than got in hot water because of his high salary (and a very lavish party he threw), but again, did he break the law? It may not be ethical but what he was doing was not illegal. So jealously plays a large part in his downfall. Ofcourse, the people seeing green could not get over the fact they were still in a job because of Ghosn, not inspite of him. This was the man who turned around a huge loss-making company into a profitable one. The fact he did it twice, for Renault and Nissan, says a lot about Ghosn business prowess and intelligence. Then again, given we are talking about the French and Japanese psyche, that could go in some way to explain why he was hated. Being of Arab origin, he just wasn't one of "us". To its credit the documentary address this.
The biggest issue I had was the lack of evidence presented about Ghosn's presumed embezzlement or possible tax avoidance. No facts were supplied. We were just told the Renault business set up numerous subsidiary companies, but we are also told other car manufactures do the same, so I am not sure why this was a big deal then? It was through these subsidiaries that Ghosn accumulated wealth, but no details were supplied on how the alleged embezzlement operated, how much was siphoned and who else was implicated?
I came away knowing less about Ghosn's charges than I did going into it. The documentary slants on the side of presumed innocence which given the absolute lack of evidence against the man, is the only position to take.
The only fact I came away with is the 99% conviction rate of people arrested in Japan and that goes to explain why Ghosn fled.