It’s always hard to make corporate skullduggery and intrigue seem thrilling on screen. The Big Short managed by having the technical explanations delivered by Hollywood A-listers. Succession needed the private lives of the Roys to save it from death by boardroom. It’s no mean feat to make such machinations interesting, even when the story is as twisty as that of former Nissan-Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn – who was accused of financial impropriety and imprisoned in Japan, before fleeing the country in 2019, despite being under heavy surveillance.
Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn, then, has to find a way through. This four-part documentary tells the story of Ghosn, the cost-cutting, money-making CEO who turned the fortunes of Renault and Nissan around – until he was arrested in Japan in 2018 on suspicion of “underreporting compensation” and “misuse of company assets”, at which point his fall from grace was all but inevitable. It soon becomes clear that this is only one layer of what turns out to be a rich and multifaceted fable.
This series tries to give viewers the whole story, which is long and complex. It is unapologetic in taking its time to rev up. The first episode establishes the question of whether Ghosn is a victim or a villain. The second tells the story of Ghosn’s arrest and his outrage at what he still claims is a great injustice, and the third focuses on his astonishing escape while on bail in Tokyo. If you were to watch those first three episodes, you might think you have an idea of where the film-makers’ sympathies lie. Stick it out until the fourth, though, because it takes a turn: by the time the extensive postscript flashed up at the end, I was agog.
Any lingering suspicion that corporate intrigue is often less than intriguing should be dispelled. Despite finishing both seasons of Industry– practically the same as an economics degree – I am still not particularly familiar with the business world. My heart sank at the giant percentages flashing up on screen in the early moments, but this documentary knows it has a fascinating story on its hands and soon ditches the gimmicks.
Ghosn is a character, that’s for sure, and this show delves into his “Midas touch” – a telling metaphor, as it is only used with reference to Midas’s positives, and not the well-publicised drawback. Who would have guessed that a lavish party thrown to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Renault-Nissan alliance, held at Versailles with a Louis XIV theme, might turn out to have been a bit extravagant, in hindsight?
The series is a slow burn that doesn’t rush the details. It paints a picture of how globalisation often fails to consider cultural differences, whether in French society’s attitudes to what is acceptable pay for a chief executive, to Japanese customs and nuances around cutting a workforce. The 2008 financial crash led to Ghosn halving his salary, but may have triggered the events that led to his subsequent arrest.
There’s an extensive list of interviewees, including French and Japanese former ministers, journalists who have reported on Ghosn and former colleagues. We meet those who played a part in getting him out of Japan, and who paid the price for doing so. But the headline draw is Ghosn himself, who is interviewed by director James Jones at length. His participation is handled elegantly over the series. He puts his case, others put theirs. Jones waits until the final episode to pose the tough questions, but it’s well worth the wait.
The documentary suffers from open-endedness, through no fault of the film-makers. While an international arrest warrant has been issued, Ghosn is not currently under arrest. The film also appears to tread carefully over certain details. At one point, Ghosn’s second wife, Carole, stumbles on a question about his escape from Japan, pointing out that legally, she is not allowed to talk about certain aspects of it. There is the matter of a hard drive, the contents of which “shock the conscience”, according to one talking head who claims to be in the know. The show doesn’t entirely manage to unravel the many knots it displays. It may be a little slow for some, but rewards extra concentration, and is a smart take on a riveting tangle of power, money and greed.
• Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn is on Apple TV+
