The Yes Men
By Mike Bonanno & Andy Bichlbaum
The point of the film was to try and show the dark side of globalization and world trade, focusing on the World Trade Organization. The film tries to show what huge international companies do to exploit trade and make profits for themselves while they don’t care what happens in the countries they have been outsourcing too. Mike and Andy show that anyone, with very little money, can make a difference. People need to learn about what is going on and they need to know how they can make a difference. The structure is very effective. It shows how they successfully take steps to show the injustices of the WTO.
It could be a blend of a few different documentary types but it is mostly reflexive and interactive, with bits of expository. There were many conventions that the film employed. They had interviews, archival footage, jiggly camera and some narration. They had many interviews of themselves and others involved with them, and some people from the conference in Australia. They had archival footage of different news stories where they were featured and even a clip of the Canadian government discussing the disbanding of the WTO. It is from the perspective of the filmmakers.
There were many strengths in this film. I liked the interactive part of the documentary. It showed them actually setting up and planning the things they were going to do and makes it seem more realistic. The most enjoyable parts of the movie was definitely when they were doing their presentations. It was really entertaining to see what kinds of things they could get away with in front of a well educated audience and what kind of reaction they got. One scene I found particularly interesting was the presentation in front of the college class. It was refreshing to see people actually argue about what they were saying and how wrong it obviously was.
A film like “The Yes Men” has great value in our culture. People don’t ask enough about questionable activities undertaken by world corporations. This film helps to expose some of the shady dealing that are going on. It shows that steps can be taken and people need to want to change what’s going on. This film will have a positive affect because it will inspire more people to do something. There is one negative effect it could have. It may make some people want to do thing like the Yes Men, but Mike and Andy have a lot of experience and lots of good connections. Someone without their skills could get into a lot of trouble by doing similar things a bit differently.
