The Yes Men Documentary Review

The Yes Men is a documentary film directed by Dan Ollman, Sarah Price, and Chris Smith that exposes a huge worldwide organization and outline flaws in major corporations. The main characters are Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum. They are the Yes men and are the ones who set up the projects and stunts that take place in the documentary. The film outlines the flaws in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and exposes them to the public. By bringing these issues up to the public they are effectively getting the messages out there without having the organization come to them complaining or with any issues. This is because going to the Yes men would further exploit them and look very bad on their organization. There are other projects that make strong statements and have a strong meaning but the main focus is on the WTO. The film is chronological and there is a lead up to many of the events that take place. There is a lead up to the final presentation where the Yes men are sincere about the problems with the WTO and this is one of the most effective stunts.

The Yes Men is an expository documentary with some aspects of the observatory mode that gives us the prospective of the main characters, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum. They use many of the conventions for the expository mode of documentary such as montages, composed somewhat like an essay, and has a didactic point of view. Although these techniques are used from the expository mode of documentary there are also some conventions from the observational mode. This includes observing life with little involvement, in terms of the presentations, and direct slice of life events. The Yes Men is in first person because we are seeing the views and the events that happened to the main characters Andy and Mike. The prospective of the film gave us a good idea of what they really wanted to accomplish and showed us their views on the WTO. It could be biased because we could be more informed on the actions of the WTO and what they are doing. But I think the film gives us a good perspective of the WTO.

The Yes Men is a great documentary with very innovative and intelligent filmmakers who got their message across very effectively. The projects that they outlined in the film when they were leading up to the WTO presentation were very well done and did a good job introducing the Yes men. I especially liked the stunt where they switched the female and male voices of the Ken and Barbie dolls. This was a very effective project and drew media attention to the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO). This was when the Yes men first used visibility to make their case, working within the very organizations that they wanted to expose. This is effectively stealing identities not for criminal mischief, but for correcting them. Bonanno describes this action as “identity correction”. I am happy that this film was made and it is a great way to expose these corporations and organizations. I would love for this film to have more publicity and be more popular so that more people can get the message.

This type of film has a great impact on our culture in many ways and really helps us understand what globalization is doing and what the problems with it are. The awful things that these companies and organizations do are more often than not hidden from us and never shown to the public. For someone to do something as extraordinary as to bring out these secrets and show the public what these people are actually getting away with is very beneficial to society. This is what the Yes Men have done and I think that this has a positive effect and can have a big impact on what the public thinks about these corporations.