THE YES MEN
**** out of *****

Genres
Business
Documentary
Politics

2003
Directed by
Dan Ollman
Sarah Price
Chris Smith     

I remember the first time I saw American Movie, it was one of the first DVDs I ever watched, and thinking to myself, “Holy shit I wish I didn't ignore this film when it screened at the festival”. I don't think I'd ever seen anything quite so disturbing and insanely funny since Kevin Smith's indie classic Clerks. Yet American Movie was real, it was a documentary. Ever since that moment I became a fan of Chris Smith and his crew and eagerly anticipated their next film. This was Home Movie and it didn't disappoint. Smith later teamed up with Dan Ollman and Sarah Price to co-direct The Yes Men. Much like American Movie I missed the initial opportunity to see this film during its festival run, and then yet again as it got general release. Thank god for DVD.

The Yes Men follows the exploits of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, a pair of activists who poke fun at the World Trade Organization by posing as WTO representatives. The Yes Men get their anti-globalisation message across by creating and pulling off over-the-top pranks around the world. By posing as WTO representatives they manage to get themselves on news broadcasts and booked for speaking engagements at high profile events. Each time they present ideas that satirise WTO policy in an attempt to shock. The results are surprisingly disturbing.

I have no idea how these guys manage to do this stuff without being jailed for fraud, but seriously, the stuff these guys have come up with is just hilarious. Some may look upon this as a film that follows a bunch of guys that have not matured since high school. But all the over-the-top stunts aside, these two are doing this for a reason: to get a message across that all the WTO stands for is keeping rich countries rich and preying on the poor ones. Surprisingly their crazy schemes don't seem to faze the highly educated people they are speaking to. This intellectual top 1%, so to speak, that are presented with their ideas appear to treat them as serious. This is the most shocking thing of all.

The film is structured in a very voyeuristic manner as the filmmakers follow the Yes Men’s pranks from conception through the research they put into each project and finally to its presentation. The film doesn't really take anytime to give us any factual background about the WTO and its policies that may be unknown to some viewers. And a deeper look into the origins of the Yes Men would have also been beneficial. We do, however get many candid moments with Andy and Mike as they bring us into their world, which allows us to get to know them a little better.

The Yes Men is delightfully humorous and features many outlandish moments that you'll find yourself telling friends about, a true sign that the film's message was effective. I recommend this film as essential viewing.

Finger_Of_DOOM's reviews also appear on DVD Compare, where they include details of the DVD release. For this review click here.

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