The Yes Men

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from a documentary called "The Yes Men" that was directed by three people, but what I got was a really fun 80 minutes. The film follows a few members of the anti-corporate activist group (whose main target is the World Trade Organization) as they pull pranks in order to sabotage the large companies/organizations they disagree with. Pretty much what Michael Moore (who is featured for a few moments) does, only The Yes Men handle things in a different manner. Stemming from a situation in which they were mistaken for the World Trade Organization after someone viewed the satirical website they designed ABOUT the World Trade Organization, they accepted an offer to speak on behalf of the WTO at an International conference. Since then, they have made sporadic appearances on panels, in lectures, even on television representing the WTO, only obviously not spewing the WTO rhetoric, but inserting their own (most times offensive and outlandish) topics instead.

"The Yes Men" is not a great documentary, but I eat this kind of stuff right up because I find the concept of creative activism to be an intriguing one, and the way that these men are managing to infiltrate some of these organizations is not only amusing but really intelligent as well. The film is incredibly short, and personally, it left me wanting more, but I don't think there is a lot more that could be said about what they are doing that wasn't already succinctly addressed. I found the subject to be an interesting and increasingly relevant one, and the four featured Yes Men were hilarious and endearing. There wasn't a lot for me to dislike about the film, but it's not something I would recommend to a lot of people. Michael Moore fans would really dig it though. 7/10 --Shelly

Imagine- you are a formidable investor, sitting on a Mahogany chair in your chambers and listening to the proposition of two young entrepreneurs to mass market a suit that looks like a star trek outfit with a tv-extension that is located in a very specific area of the body that IMDB reviewers tend to replace its name with signs like : *#@@$%. What would you do? Ask them politely to leave? Call security? Refer them to a Doctor?

Well, if you're one of the economic elite and those two young guys were representatives of the WTO, you would probably clap enthusiastically or, if you're a movie buff that realizes that what he watches really happened, you'd clinch your abdomen so it won't burst from laughing.

As it turns out, what ended as probably the most effective campaign against globalization, started with two guys that had plenty of spare time and very little or no will to grow up. They started an anti-bush site and it got enough resonance to encourage them to design yet another satirical site. This time, about the WTO, an organization that is considered by many (present company EXCLUDED) to be a ruthless organization that its only cause is to weaken developing countries by making them the sweatshop for wealthy corporations.

The "problem" (it turned out to be its greatest virtue) of that site was that it resembled in appearance to the WTO site. As a result, many sent inquiries regarding the WTO to the duo who, up until than, dealt with slightly minor economical dilemmas such as how many pizza toppings to order.

From then on, the sky was the limit. One of the site owners was requested to debate in a CNBC program as a representative of the WTO in favor of the globalization where he stated, with impressive eloquence, deliberately idiotic arguments in favor of the globalization.

The next two years were spent by the duo for making a crusade (which looked like it was taken out of a Monty Python movie) promoting ridiculous notions (like the idea I mentioned in the beginning of this review) to distinguished members of the business community. The Funny/Tragic (depends on the outlook) was that in most places, they had received accolades for their "initiatives" simply because they were mistaken for WTO representatives.

The movie accompanies those two crusaders lobbying against the WTO by impersonating to be its avid supporters and "exposing" its absurdity. I put parenthesis in -exposing because, as its greatest objectors, the duo never raises legitimate arguments in favor of the globalization and deliberately mocks the WTO by proposing horrific solutions to world problems on the WTO's behalf.

That issue is a very disturbing issue because even if I did support their views, I would find it unnerving to be an advocate of a slanderous attack- disguised as satire- disguised as pro WTO activity.

I choose not to debate the issue because the movie creators made the same choice. This movie's perspective is the premise that Globalization is bad and once this point is clear, the movie can switch to lighter note and becomes a light documentary that was funnier than any fictional Hollywood film I've seen in years.

Maybe I should approach this review on a lighter note and instead of dealing with the ethical aspect of the duo's actions, I can just tell you that this film will be fun even if you're not used to see documentary films on the silver screen and as an anarchistic comedy that REALLY HAPPENED, this film is well worth leaving your kids at your parents' house for 80 minutes or so. As long as you don't make a foolish mistake such as taking anything in this film, seriously.

9 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter.

This shows how some of the bizarre scripts written by well meaning but now largely irrelevant organisations have been become so muddled that many of the audience don't realize the joke is on them. With a few notable exceptions the America we see on our daily news has had an irony bypass already and forget satire so it is great to learn that the artform is not lost by the Yes Men.

NZ's very own former PM and trade minister most famous for "lamb burgers" and (sincerely convinced WTOer) Mike Moore gets a photo shot early in the film when a WTO site is shown. He is followed closely by the other Mike Moore who is much better known but wasn't really needed in the film.

The remote workers viewing device (phallus) had our festival audience in apoplexy and deserves to be shown widely especially the animated sections.

On the whole though it was refreshing to think that a few clever protests with careful thought and some talented execution can create ripples on the pond so wide that millions of people have now seen the echoes in a media format somewhere near them.

In a world where individual action often seems puny it was great to see it is still possible to be funny and absolutely relevant and tactical without being boring.

I saw this hilarious and very entertaining film at the Berlin Film Festival in February of this year. Very refreshing look at the 'WTO' and its side kicks from an inside point of view. A subversive political documentary with a sense of humour in the vein of 'Bowling for Columbine'. All the travel, costuming and filming were done with the smallest budget and the 'actors' just two guys who want to reveal a few things about how stuff gets done in the US of A! During the Q and A someone asked a question about the legality of using some of the clips and whether they had permission to film the conferences.

It was clear that all these issues had been covered and the film releases this autumn in Europe as far as I know.

The Yes Men is a brilliant and hilarious documentary by the filmmakers of American Movie. I checked it out at last year's Toronto film festival.

The film centres around a small group of anti-globalization activists who went around the world posing as WTO representatives at major industry conferences. Their appalling presentations were often met with applause by world business leaders.

The only problem is that the documentarians mentioned they did not have promission to shoot what they were filming and thus are having a difficult time getting the rights to the images from the conferences they were at. It would be a real shame if The Yes Men was not allowed to be released in theatres.