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theyesmen.org
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (their real names are Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos) take the plunge while fully dressed in The Yes Men Fix the World.
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Movie Type
Documentary
MPAA Rating
No Rating
Running Time
85 minutes
Directed By
Andy Bichlbaum, Kurt Engfehr, Mike Bonanno
Cast
Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
Written By
Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno
Produced By
Doro Bachrach, Laura Nix, Ruth Charny
Released
Oct 07, 2009
(NY)
Distributed By
Cinetic Media
Take the prankster chutzpah of Sacha Baron Cohen. Pair it with Michael Moore's crusading lefty outrage. Add two frazzled-looking guys in cheap suits. What do you get? The Yes Men, globe-trotting “culture jammers” who pose as corporate mouthpieces — and cause all sorts of mischief for all sorts of people in power.
In 2003 they released The Yes Men, a documentary tracking their exploits as bogus representatives of the World Trade Organization. Among other things, they promoted “reBurgers” made of recycled feces and a gold-lamé executive jumpsuit with an inflatable phallus. In their risible new sequel, The Yes Men Fix the World, they ramp up the stakes along with the production values, yielding a slicker, nervier film that's also — unexpectedly — more sincere.
They're no longer content to just spoof the stuffing out of monolithic business interests. Instead, they want to change things. As we're told near the end, after Yes Men acolytes have circulated copies of a faux New York Times announcing fantasy news (universal health care, for instance): “If a few people at the top can make the bad news happen, why can't all of us at the bottom make the good news happen for real?”
The guy talking is Mike Bonanno, the Yes Man who narrates Fix the World and sticks behind the scenes for most of the stunts. His partner in the spotlight is Andy Bichlbaum, an angular, nervy fellow who shows up to speak whenever one of the group's fake Web sites — mocking Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, Halliburton — draws an invitation to speak at a convention or press event. (For the record, Bichlbaum and Bonanno aren't even their real names; try Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos.)
The film's opening sequence shows Bichlbaum in December 2004, as he prepped for a spot with the BBC. They thought they'd landed an interview with a Dow official named Jude Finisterra. In fact, he was a world-class liar who calmly declared that Dow, recently merged with Union Carbide, had decided to take “full responsibility” for the 1984 Bhopal disaster and planned to spend $12 billion on victim restitution.
It was quite a feat. And it got quite a reaction: Dow stock lost $2 billion in 20 minutes. By any measure it was the Yes Men's biggest and boldest hoax — though they came close just a few weeks ago when Bichlbaum “announced” a position shift on climate change for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (The Chamber filed suit.)
Aside from the Dow subterfuge, the movie includes interviews with conservative think-tankers and short, surreal clips showing Mike and Andy swimming fully dressed. It also tags along from conference hall to conference hall, where the pair demonstrate such innovations as a fuel made from human climate victims (Vivoleum, “made” by Exxon) and a bouncing catastrophe-response suit (the SurvivaBall, “made” by Halliburton).
Politically, The Yes Men Fix the World covers much the same territory as Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, but it uses broad absurdity and agitprop performance art rather than high-dudgeon sermonizing to make its point. Beyond question, the results are overstated, outrageous and wildly, scatologically juvenile. But they're also a hoot to watch.
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