Documentary of this kind breaks the age old perception of them being somber!
The issues raised are indeed grave but the style of conveying is not only entertaining but equally effective and timely.
The film is about the famous Yes Men duo- Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno and their set of pranks. The movie starts with their famous impersonation as a Dow Chemical’s spokesperson. Andy Bichlbaum poses as spokesperson and takes the responsibility of the Bhopal Industrial catastrophe. He announces that Dow Chemical takes the responsibility of that accident and would clean up the tainted water at the site. It was aired on BBC World News and 300 million people watched it. Even though the people rejoiced, the company immediately lost their share price by $2 billion making it impossible for them to do anything like that. They want us to wake up to the fact how our market system makes it difficult to do the right thing. They predict that if market is left to lead s then we would certainly end up in degradation of humans and the planet.
Besides this they also pose as representatives of Exxon and Halliburton at an Oil Conference in Canada. They present that the company’s new bio fuel- Vivoleum, solution to climate change is made from human victims of climate change. It is hilarious to watch their audience to realize that the candles they hold are of dead people. Even though the company calls them pranksters it is not difficult to understand the underlying sentiment of the duo to ‘Fix the World’.
Besides this they have a famous incident of sending across fake news declaring end of the Iraq war in the New York Times and it is known Alex S. Jones of the New York Times City Room Blog took it in good humor as a compliment to the Times.
It has been applauded for its reverent efforts in the Sundance Film Festival, Berlin Film Festival and has also been accredited with the Panorama Audience Award this year.
