Is
The Yes Men that documentary about Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno who
despise the World Trade Organization and spoof it through their
website, www.gatt.org, which intelligent people often mistake for the
real WTO site? And because of mistaken identity, Mike and Andy receive
invitations to represent the WTO at business conferences all over the
world, right?
Yes and yes.
Do these dudes actually attend
forums pretending to be real WTO spokesmen with such names as Granwyth
Hulatberi and Hank Hardy Unruh and then give outrageous presentations
satirizing WTO policies, such as demonstrating a skintight golden
"management leisure suit" with a 3-foot phallus/video monitor that
allows managers to supervise their sweatshop workers from anywhere in
the world and inspire the slave-wage personnel with electroshocks when
production falls off a tad? And is it true that during another segment
in the film the two lecture a college business class on how the
fast-food industry could increase efficiency by recycling burgers in
poor countries - essentially creating crap sandwiches?
Yes and yes.
So,
basically these guys are pranksters, and their elaborate hoaxes
satirize WTO policies - kind of similar to Michael Moore's antics on
"TV Nation" and "The Awful Truth" - in order to provoke people to ask
questions about the WTO?
Yes.
And I take it that more or less the movie probably casts an unflattering light on the WTO?
Yes.
However, contrary to popular belief, documentaries are closer to argumentative essays than objective journalism, right?
Yes.
Does The Yes Men provide a solid argument on the evils of the WTO?
Well,
not quite, my inquisitive chap. Undoubtedly, the movie agrees with the
politics of its two subjects, and so do I to a certain extent, but The
Yes Men never generates any emotional investment or rises above humdrum
platitudes to truly thrust the idea that the WTO is a greedy antihuman
organization with possible ties to Sir Lucifer. Yet, the film will
still possibly succeed in making the audience curious about the WTO.
And after all, isn't that the ultimate goal of Mr. Bichlbaum and Mr.
Bonanno?
Hey, if I wanted windy responses, I would have asked
open-ended questions. Understand? So, the movie works best when
concentrating on the preparation and humor of the pranks?
Yes and yes.
Is The Yes Men at least funny and amusing?
Yes.
Then pretty good overall you'd say?
Yes.
But then you'd probably expect an entertaining movie from the filmmakers who made a masterpiece such as American Movie?
E-mail DI film critic David Frank at:
david-frank@uiowa.edu
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