'The Yes Men Fix the World': Movie Review
I'm sure a few of you will agree with me that the Eco/Green Movement can be a bit lacking in the sense of humor department. But two men -- two Yes Men -- have made it their mission to remedy both corporate wrong doings, and the dearth of laughs in the discussion.
Mike Bonnano and Andy Bichlbaum are the Yes Men -- or at least, those are their stage names. The two activists/performers/pranksters/identity thieves -- although they call it "identity correction" -- star in the new documentary "The Yes Men Fix the World," which showcases some of the big "Borat"-style hoaxes they've played on corporate world, all in the name of drawing attention to the way things should be.
The film opens with Andy Bichlbaum preparing to appear on the BBC as "Jude Finisterra", a representative of Dow Chemical. He is endearingly, and understandably, nervous, because he's about to tell a whopper of lie to the entire world: that Dow accepts all responsibility for the Bhopal chemical accident and ragedy, and plan to sell off subsidiary Union Carbide to finance $12 billion in reparations.
Although the announcement was unmasked as a hoax within a few hours, Dow stock took a $2 billion hit, and the Yes Men learned that the corporate world punishes, rather than rewards, good behavior.
The film follows the pair as they perpetrate several outrageous direct actions that seemingly fail to elicit a reaction from their audiences, including:
- appearing at a gas and oil conference in Canada as representative of Exxon to present a new energy source called "Vivoleum," made from humans
- presenting the Halliburton "Survivaball", an expensive, inflatable suit that can protect you from climate change calamities -- "good for Cabinet Members", as one audience member says
- telling a group of contractors in New Orleans that HUD plans to reopen public housing that had been scheduled to be demolished following Hurricane Katrina.
The last group actually did react, cheering the decision even though it meant less work for them. Of course it didn't change the real HUD's demolition plans, so you be the judge of the success of the stunt.
"The Yes Men Fix the World" has several laugh-out-loud moments, an equal number of "They didn't just say that, did they?"gasps, and dozens of "Oh my, they're definitely getting sued for that!" scenes.
Surprisingly, The Yes Men have escaped legal attention, until their recent fake press conference for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in which they declared that the organization was reversing its stand on climate change and supporting the Boxer/Kerry Climate Bill.
It was a fairly mundane press conference until the real spokesperson for the U.S. Chamber of commerce showed up and started yelling. Then it became entertaining enough to include in the next Yes Men movie!
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