The TF1 group channel is broadcasting “Carlos Ghosn, The Last Flight”, a documentary that returns to the trial of the ex-Nissan and Renault boss. The latter testifies on camera about his story and his incredible escape from Japan to reach Lebanon in December 2019.
Directed by Nick Green, award-winning documentary filmmaker for miniseries like ‘Putin, the Spy Who Became President’ and ‘House of Assad’. The film contains the testimony of Carlos Ghosno as well as that of his wife Carol† Interspersed with sound archives or images, the work paints a portrait of this boss who was praised for years for saving Nissan from bankruptcy and forging the alliance between Renault and the Japanese manufacturer.
ALSO READ – Everything you need to know about the Carlos Ghosn affair
He was awarded many times and appeared on the covers of every magazine for his exceptional work and achievement. He was stripped of paradise on charges of embezzlement and misuse of company assets. The opening minutes of the film begin with a memory: his arrival in Japan for what will be his last trip, when the passport officer at the airport, embarrassed, tells him there is a problem… preamble to his arrest: “I wasn’t in shock, you don’t think, you don’t feel anything. But what will happen to me?” Carlos Ghosn testifies about his first arrest.
A debt of 20 billion for Nissan
A former graduate of Polytechnique in Paris, raised with the Jesuits in Lebanon, he became factory director at Michelin at age 27 and director of operations in Brazil at age 31, still at Michelin. When Renault CEO Louis Schweitzer sent him to Japan in 1999 to manage the French manufacturer’s stake in Nissan, the Japanese company was on the brink of bankruptcy and had 20 billion euros in debt. After three years, it will restore activity, eliminating the passage of 21,000 jobs. It took the courage to do it. Nobody thought it was possible. But in Ghosn’s heyday, the alliance made $200 billion in revenue and employed 500,000 people.
But now Nissan is looking for a way to keep it and doesn’t want to see it go to competitors. And then, his ambition, his taste for direction, especially in a report in Japan, published in Paris matchare hardly appreciated by everyone, testifies Louis Schweitzer, ex-CEO of Renault: “We had a few disagreements, I told him it was stupid and he shouldn’t be there Paris matcha director must remain discreet†
An escape in a box
Likewise, his lifestyle, his six homes around the world paid for by Renault and Nissan, the expenses borne by Renault (€630,000) to celebrate with great fanfare at Versailles, the 15th anniversary of the alliance and his birthday with him, you tap. On November 19, 2018, he was arrested. The documentary follows the course of the accusation and looks back on his imprisonment. Takashi Yamashita, ex-Justice Minister of Japan, explains in a very factual way, with a smile that barely hides the irony: “Of course, his cell was smaller than his villa in Lebanon and he wasn’t allowed to drink champagne, but people always want to escape the crimes they committed.† Greg KellyCarlos Ghosn’s former assistant and alleged mastermind is dragged into the turmoil and also accused.
The ex-Renault boss tells in detail about his escape, his transport in a box of musical instruments. A real spy novel. He also justifies the allegations:It is difficult to simplify things because they seem very complicated. JI have not received any money, it is difficult to simplify. This was the release of release I would receive when I retired. A case that will never end for the Japanese judiciary, who accuse Carlos Ghosn and his wife of having led a hellish life in the book Always together (Ed. de l’Observatoire), which they wrote in March 2021. Nick Green’s documentary may show the man in a different light, but it’s certainly fascinating to watch.
