The Yes Men Fix the World (2009)

Directed by: Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno | 87 minutes | documentary | Actors: Reggie Watts, Mike Bonanno, Andy Bichlbaum

The nuclear disaster in Chernobyl in 1986 is still etched on many people’s minds. It is much less known that two years earlier in the Indian city of Bhopal an even worse poisoning disaster, in which thousands of people died, is much less known. With at least 50,000 victims with serious illnesses, this disaster is the worst industrial disaster ever to occur. The American Union Carbide owned the pesticide factory from which 40 tons of methyl isocyanate escaped. The company, which was acquired by Dow Chemical Company in 2001, still refuses to accept responsibility for the disaster and believes the disaster was caused by terrorism and industrial sabotage. The Indian government still hopes the United States will extradite former Union Carbide chief executive Warren Anderson for trial. However, after all these years, the American government still does not feel compelled to put pressure on the chemical industry in order to demand compensation for the many tens of thousands of victims in India.

The disaster in Bhopal is one of the topics that upset The Yes Men. These political activists use their very own methods to expose social injustice. They pose as representatives of the multinationals, build their websites, print business cards and speak on behalf of the companies at conferences, fairs and other global venues. It’s amazing what they get away with, after studying their second documentary, ‘The Yes Men Fix the World’ (2009). They don’t stop at anything. For example, they publicly shame Dow Chemical Company, as owner of Union Carbide, by announcing live on the BBC that it will finally pay compensation to the victims of the disaster in Bhopal. Please note: ‘Yes Man’ Andy Bichlbaum pretends to speak on behalf of DOW and gets all the space from the BBC to tell his made-up story. Other media take over the message blindly, without first checking whether this figure really works at Dow. The Dow stock immediately takes off. Only later does it come out that it was all one big stunt, to pay attention to the skewed situation in the world.

The Bhopal story is just the tip of the iceberg, as the Yes Men have more stunts up their sleeve. They invariably aim their arrows at the representatives of the free market economy, who are given every opportunity by governments to earn as much money as possible, if necessary on the backs of humanity. As long as it makes money. Take, for example, the housing associations that want to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Existing homes have to make way for expensive apartment complexes that the mostly poor population cannot afford. They are simply being chased out of their homes. The Yes Men go to war on this. Provocation is their magic word. For example, they – ostensibly as executives of fuel giant Exxon – terrify the attendees of an important oil industry conference by presenting them the biofuel of the future: Vivoleum, made with the corpses of the wretched Exxon employees, who literally work themselves to death in the oil refineries and petrochemical industry.

The reactions of their audience vary. The candles of human remains are generally met with disbelief and horror; the laughable phenomenon SurvivaBall, which is presented on an inflatable human armor against natural disasters and terrorism, actually shows serious interest from the business community. ‘The Yes Men Fix the World’ is especially strong at provoking reactions, the stunt scenes are its strongest asset. The decoration of the whole, with quasi-comic films by Bichlbaum and Bonnano, is often bland and arouses annoyance. The duo has looked closely at Michael Moore and works with sharp commentary and playful editing. Sometimes it’s funny, most of the time it’s amazing. Because how on earth do Bichlbaum and Bonnano get away with this? Their film is of course not very objective – political and economic opponents are simply ridiculed – but their message undeniably arouses sympathy. The fact that Obama is performed at the end, with the hopeful announcement that ‘the free market economy is not a license to take what you can get’, almost feels like a mandatory song.

Their message is most powerful when they hand out a newspaper (disguised as The New York Times) with only positive messages on the streets of New York with a group of supporters. Cynics may not like messages such as ‘Iraq war over’ and ‘Maximum wage established by law’, but those who are open to it will fully embrace the message that The Yes Men are spreading. They want to show the world that things can be done differently and with this flawed but effective documentary they are taking an admirable step in the right direction. Now that governments and multinationals are still…