Running time: 82 minutes
Starring: Mike Bonanno, Andy Bichlbaum
Rating 7 out of 10
The latest documentary hoping to benefit from the Michael Moore-induced revival of social and political film commentary is The Yes Men, an often hilarious tale of two pranksters who set out to bring down one of the world's most monolithic and mysterious agencies, the World Trade Organisation. This entertaining film documents their travels all over the world, turning up at official events and masquerading as economists and thinkers from the WTO, only to deliver lectures that cleverly lampoon the organisation. The Yes Men are first cousins to Chris Morris's school of satire, but as activists they prove to have the nous to get their subversive message across in real-life situations.In 1999 Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, two young anti-globalisation activists created www.gatt.org, a website that mirrored the official site of the WTO but contained all sorts of highly-convincing but unlikely arguments and proposals. The site was so convincing that the duo received requests to speak at functions around the world as representatives of the WTO, and inspired by their success they decided to take things one step further.
The film charts the dynamic duo's first major trip to Finland, with Bichlbaum suited up as Hank Hardy Unruh, a delegate with a speech on the future of textiles. Presenting an utterly convincing and highly Westernised view of the global poverty gap in front of a conference crowd, Hank tears off his clothes to reveal the proposed official solution: a gold ski suit with a computer attached to a giant phallus (allowing corporate managers to keep an eye on their workforce while watching tv). He receives polite if bemused applause.
Deciding that the reaction was too muted, the two embark on more shocking tactics, including a hilarious University speech promoting the recycling of human waste into burgers for the Third World, as well as television appearances under increasingly ludicrous names. Finally they announce at an Australian seminar that the WTO is to disband, citing errors of judgment and policy as the reasons. Journalists and politicians around the world pick up on the story, with many agreeing that it seems like a good idea.
While it's not quite life-changing stuff, The Yes Men is a decent accompaniment to the current crop of satirical documentaries. The two leading figures are somewhat bland personalities in real life, but this serves them wonderfully in their cause, as the various characters they develop are utterly convincing. The reaction of audiences to their ideas is interestingly either positive (with most politicians at least able to understand that world poverty needs to be taken seriously), or in the case of the university students, amusingly negative (the two are battered on stage by inflatable globes).
