Even during his house arrest in Japan, Carlos Ghosn thought his life was worth filming. At that time, the former CEO of both Nissan and Renault had already been detained for a year on suspicion of financial misconduct – wrongly, he thought. Ghosn therefore invited a Hollywood producer so that he could tell his side of the story in a film.
Until that meeting, at the end of 2019, maybe there was still a bit of spectacle to become a Hollywood hit, a few weeks later that was suddenly different. Ghosn was found to have escaped his strict police surveillance in Tokyo, after which he was smuggled out of the country by private jet in a sound equipment box.
Several books have been published about this unlikely escape and it has been filmed several times. In 2020, Amazon’s video service released a documentary in which Ghosn spoke extensively. Competitor Netflix followed last year, this time without the cooperation of the main character. And this Friday, a four-part miniseries will be released on Apple TV+, titled Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn.
The timing of such adaptations is crucial. It is tempting to immediately come up with a series or documentary, but the danger is that it will be incomplete. Those who wait too long, however, risk being overtaken: everything has already been told by others. Apple’s series comes late, but it is also the most complete and at the same time offers new perspectives.
Relentless
For those who have been closely following Ghosn’s fall since the beginning, Wanted is probably a succession of largely known facts. The general public may have only heard of the arrest or escape. For them, the miniseries is an accessible and at the same time detailed search for the truth, which never gets boring.
Wanted consists of four episodes, each with a clear tension arc. In the first, titled Hubris (arrogance), the viewer becomes acquainted with Ghosn from the moment he switches from Michelin to Renault as an unknown but talented driver. The French carmaker is in bad shape then, and Ghosn has proven at the tire maker that he can quickly make companies profitable again.
Ghosn, who has a Lebanese, Brazilian and French passport, is ruthless in his approach. He closes factories and cuts jobs en masse, which earned him the nickname Cost Cutter yields. As soon as Renault is profitable again, he will switch to the Japanese Nissan, which forms an alliance with the French group and is in an even worse position if possible.
Read also: The spectacular flight of Carlos Ghosn
In Japan, too, his working method evokes a lot of resistance, but opponents must also admit: Ghosn was right. Nissan is profitable again within a year. His business success has earned the director universal admiration. Magazines labeled him several times as one of the most powerful businessmen in the world. He receives the Medal of Honor from the Japanese emperor, as the first foreign top man.
That success also makes Ghosn vain and careless, see the people he works with. The CEO throws lavish parties at the expense of the company, mixes with the jet set and is constantly concerned about his salary. If, due to new legislation in Japan, he is only allowed to earn half of what he previously received, he and the head of human resources come up with a construction to be able to claim the rest later.
Ultimately, it is rumors of a merger that herald Ghosn’s downfall. There is a great fear at Nissan that one of the national icons will lose its independence through a combination with Renault. Shortly afterwards, Ghosn is arrested for his salary trick. The driver himself thinks he is being framed by Nissan veterans who want to thwart the merger.
The second episode is mainly about Ghosn’s frustration and surprise. He believes he is being held too harshly and for too long for a minor offense and is trapped in an unjust justice system. Seeing no other way out after more than a year, he plans his flight: the subject of the third episode.
Guilty or not?
In telling Ghosn’s story, the producers of Wanted draw on an impressively long line of people involved, throwing light on the case from all angles. They, of course, introduce journalists and lawyers, as is often the case in a journalistic one whodunnit, but also figures from the Renault and Nissan top and former ministers. Plus the former American commando who devised and carried out Ghosn’s flight.
But after Ghosn flees Japan and goes into hiding in Lebanon, the most important question remains unanswered. Is the former CEO the victim of a conspiracy? Or is he just guilty and evading punishment? That question is impossible to answer; no judge has yet been able to consider the charges against Ghosn.
However, reality is rarely as black and white as that central question – good or evil. What makes Wanted so strong is that the makers also highlight all shades of gray. While watching it is possible to think that Ghosn has been done, but still guilty. Or innocent, but also very selfish and haughty.
Guilty or not, which the series makes clear in any case: in the world of Carlos Ghosn everything revolves around Carlos Ghosn. Because in the eyes of Ghosn there is only one victim. He. When the interviewers then point out to him that the people who helped him with his flight or salary trick had to serve a prison sentence, while the fled top executive in Beirut goes on trips on his mega yacht, Ghosn is curt. “They knew in advance what the risks were.”