Review of The Yes Men Fix the World (2009) by John B — 14 Apr 2010

The Yes Men Fix the World is a documentary that feels very much like a mockumentary as it is very Borat. The doc is a follow-up to a 2003 documentary titled, The Yes Men (amazingly original title, no?), which "starred" the same two merry pranksters who had set-out to expose "everything wrong" with those in charge of certain worldwide organizations and corporations.

YMFTW follows the same format, and instead of focusing on only one lousy, sneaky snake of an organization, it has the duo expose several in the film -- three of them are: Dow Industries, Halliburton, and the HUD (and there are still others).

The whole idea/concept of the Yes Men is to lookout for the "little guy" and they sure try. By setting up fake websites to "impersonate" these real corporate behemoths, the two accept invites to events in order to talk and represent the actual businesses (an act I find quite dishonest and I question how on earth they can get by with it time-after-time -- but "oh well" [the fact is that they COULD be sued but so far have not been because it would make the REAL corporation out to be even more monstrous in retrospect]).

The pranksters, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, are most definitely a very ballsy set of truth-seekers who are trying to bring-to-light the political and economic tricks/shenanigans that are behind ecological disasters (the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India) and the disgusting get-rich dealings of American business in catastophic times (the war in Iraq and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina).

The exposing of corporate dealings and motivations is nothing new and we all know that those in charge are out to make a billion bucks (making a million isn't enough for them anymore). What is surprising is how much some of those attending their events "eat-it-up" just as eagerly as people have bought the Borat scheme.

One surprising dupe: the highly-respected BBC News had a live exclusive interview with Dow Industries that aired around the world as a corporate big-wig [actually it was Andy] took full repsponsibility for the Bhopal disaster [which they were responsible for but won't admit] before they'd realized -- hours later -- that they'd been duped while Dow stocks toppled over.

Dow could have sued the duo; but doing so would have made the greedy corporation appear to be double-as-bad and guilty-as-sin (they had to suck-it-up and take the monetary loss as they had killed some 2,000+ citizens of Bhopal [thousands more would die from contamination in the years that followed]).

I had read that YMFTW is "hilarious" to liberals but I don't really get that as I find the film to be mostly apolitical (there is a 7-minute segment regarding a faux-issue of the New York Times that was filled with "dream headlines" that might be left-leaning; but that is it).

The doc isn't about taking sides and two of the "morons" buying into their ruses are democrats Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco. But once again THIS (the liberal branding) just shows idiocy and a close-minded us-vs-them mindset that the film didn't highlight -- it is a defense for those who are wrong and who pry on the weak and poor.

The Yes Men are truthfully exposing untruths while untruthfully exposing truths to the detriment of those making money. Some (like 98%) of their tactics are audacious and people should care; but since apathy reigns supreme over issues that go above people's heads, The Yes Men won't be fixing the world anytime soon.