THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD—IF ONLY THEY COULD!
Another installment in the capers of Andy Bichlbaum and Michael Bonnano, who codirect The Yes Men Fix the World, tells lies that should be true and upsets the elites as usual. First, they set up a website for Dow Chemical Company and await an invitation to speak. The invitation comes, so a TV interview is the platform to make a false announcement—that Dow Chemical Company will finally compensate victims of the Bhopal chemical plant disaster of 1985. Next, posing as a U.S. government official at a New Orleans conference, the announcement is made that the federal government will reopen all public housing. They have fun presenting a “SurvivaBall” as a Halliburton invention and passing out candles on behalf of ExxonMobil that are supposedly made from dead humans. And finally, they publish a bogus edition of the New York Times with the headline “Iraq War Ends” and similar stories of what might be the case if only the apathetic public demanded that politicians listen to them rather than to those who fund their election campaigns. The Political Film Society has nominated The Yes Men Fix the World for best film exposé of 2009. They don’t fix the world, but those awaiting justice in India, New Orleans, and New York very much enjoy their hoaxes, but not everyone in Obama-loving Hollywood. Unlike The Yes Men (2003), no major film studio distributes their latest film. MH