The Yes Men is a documentary that is so hard to beleive I thought it might have been faked, but after my research I determined that is indeed real. The movie presents on odd dichtomy for a reviewer- the movie sounds more interesting than it actully is. I think it might have worked better as a magazine article or essay than as a movie.
The Yes Men are liberal activists Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum. During the 2000 Presidential election, they created a satirical imitation of George W. Bush's website, which many people mistook for the real thing. They tried the same tactic with World Trade Orginization's website, and were surprised that they recieved invitations to actual events to speak on behalf of the WTO. The documentary recounts their efforts to attend these events and present what they feel are the WTO's actual ideas.
There are three main events- a conferance in Helsinki, Finland where Bichlbaum demonstrates a phony suit with an extended phallic device that allows bosses to supervise there employees at all times, a University ecomonics class in California where they state a new concept for McDonald's hamburgers to made out human waste, and another conferance in Australia where they describe the reformation of the WTO into a human rights orginazation. The movie shows everyone beleiving everything, hook, line and sinker.
And that is one of the problems with the movie. Although most of the people in the college course are apparently just stupid, I had a hard time believing that everyone in Helsinki beleived the phallic suit. It seemed more likely to me that they listened politley to the weird speaker so as not to make a scene.
Although I am involved with politics, I am not that involved with economics, so a lot of the jabs at the WTO the Yes Men made went over my head. The film certainly could have benifited from some more introductory material on the WTO and also could have benifited from an opposing veiwpoint. It says somethign that only interview subject other than the Yes Men themselves and their lackeys is Michael Moore.
Finally, the movie doesn't really have enough material for a feature. The phony presentations are certainly interesting, but the endless scenes of preparation and the Yes Men being smugly pleased at themselves get tedious fast.
The movie is certainly interesting at times, but even if you agree with it's politics isn't really worth a veiwing. You are not going to learn anything you want to repeat, because the source isn't trustworthy.
The Yes Men (2003)