SDH Captioned
Directed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno
Produced by The Yes Men
DVD Purchase $295 VHS Purchase $295
US Release Date: 2009
Copyright Date: 2009
DVD ISBN: 1-59458-899-6
VHS ISBN: 1-59458-898-8
Subjects
Awards and Festivals
Audience Award at Panorama Selection, Berlin International Film Festival
Audience Award, Planete Doc Film Fetival (Warsaw)
Audience Award, Berkshires Independent Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
Taipei Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
True/False Film Fest
Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival
Provincetown International Film Festival
Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (New York)
Seattle International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
United Nations Association Film Festival, Stanford
Two daring political activists, posing as top executives, infiltrate conferences and pull off pranks designed to provoke better business practices.
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"This brilliant piece of guerilla humor, rich with political satire, is sure to stimulate discussion and reflection." Peter M. Haas, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst |
THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story that follows two daring and imaginative political activists - Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno -- as they infiltrate the world of big business and pull off outrageous pranks that highlight how corporate greed is destroying the planet.
One day Andy, purporting to be a Dow Chemical spokesperson, gets on the biggest TV news program in the world (BBC World News) and announces that Dow will finally clean up the site of the largest industrial accident in history, the Bhopal catastrophe. The result: as people worldwide celebrate, Dow's stock value loses two billion dollars. People want Dow to do the right thing, but the market decides that it can't. The reality hits Andy and Mike like a ton of bricks: we have created a market system that makes doing the right thing impossible, and the people who appear to be leading are actually following its pathological dictates.
At conference after conference, the Yes Men try to wake up their corporate audiences to this frightening prospect, in the process taking on some of the world's biggest corporations. On their journey, the Yes Men delve deep into the question of why we have given the market more power than any other institution to determine our direction as a society.
As they appear on the BBC before 300 million viewers, or before 1000 New Orleans contractors alongside Mayor Ray Nagin, the layers of lies are peeled back to reveal the raw heart of truth - a truth that brings with it hope.
Web Page: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/yesso.html
Reviews
"This brilliant piece of guerilla humor, rich with political satire, is sure to stimulate discussion and reflection. Through a series of incredibly imaginative hoaxes the Yes Men raise profound questions about the sustainability of capitalism and the ethical responsibility of political humor."
"With wit, creativity, and unfailing good cheer, these merry pranksters of the corporate world deliver an upbeat anti-market, anti-corporate message. The 'greed is good' message of Wall Street has met its match in these zealous yet zany activists. They show that humor and ridicule is a powerful weapon again corporate hypocrisy and venality. Seldom has such an edifying lesson in doing the right thing been so much fun to watch."
"This is a movie that will get people talking. The plot is madcap comedy about a couple of guys staging hoaxes in order to shake-up prevailing worldviews that have stifled positive social change. Though the vehicle is comedy, the subject matter is very serious: the social responsibility of businesses in unfettered global capitalism. Venues range from Bhopal and Union Carbide to Exxon and the environment to Katrina and New Orleans to Halliburton and catastrophes. The movie challenges the audience to re-examine current assumptions and to do a little utopian dreaming. It is excellent also for initiating classroom discussion - particularly business ethics classes, social philosophy classes, and classes on public policy."
"Hilarious, therapeutic, inspiring. The Yes Men are geniuses."
"This is the year's top documentary film."
"Educates and entertains; The Yes Men do both. Entertainment that tickles the justice-for-all glands."
"Persuasive...You have to admire their ability both to pull off these stunts and to extract such honest expressions of greed from such corporate victims as the businessman who agrees that companies can justify deaths on the path to commercial success. Comic and creepy."
"A smart, thoughtful examination not only of the morality of capitalism, but of comedy - the Yes Men fret over the ethics of their prankery with a rigor that their corporate adversaries could learn something from."
"Part journalism, part mockumentary...it shines with a raw wit and originality."
"This movie is a hoot, and a pertinent one at that...While the subject of corporate greed and malfeasance is depressing, there's something tonic about the impudent laughter this engaging documentary provokes."
"More capitalist-critiquing chicanery and fat-cat-fooling fun."
"While you might disagree with their politics, it's hard not to appreciate the intricate lengths to which the Yes Men go to deliver their message."
"Alternately funny, incisive, and ridiculous...Aims to expose corruption, selfishness, and irrationality in corporate behaviors."
"One of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and two of the ballsiest guys I've ever met. Thank God for the Yes Men."
"It is exhilarating, sometimes hysterical - unless you are from Dow or Exxon, or indeed Bhopal, where victims were brutalized by a morning of false hope before newspaper exposures restored disenchantment. The film, though brave, gonzo and often funny, raises the bar on the debate provoked by Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen. How cruel does satire have to be - to innocent and guilty alike - to accomplish its missions?"