Reviewed by Kim Lesch

PROTESTING, as I've said many times to my anarchist chums, has many forms. Some are more sexy than others. Some involve hollering, sign holding and end in arrests. These forms are totally valid; they make a difference, they help raise awareness and allow people to express just how angry they are over unfair practices/policies/laws. The Yes Men instead protests via identity 'exposure'. Instead of going to protests with "Bush Stinks!" t-shirts, our two fearless protagonists, Andreas Bichlbauer and Mike Bannano, simply dress up like uptight Republicans and talk to various assemblies of people about World Trade policies with stunning honesty.


The Yes Men are a crew of misfits who are part of the medium-sized population of Americans who actually do care about the dumb things their government does. They began their project by being gifted with a website that had potential: www.GATT.org¹. For everyone who is unfamiliar with the specifics: they used this website to parody the World Trade Organization. However, instead of collecting a readership of aware citizens, they began to receive (en masse) emails with legitimate questions about the WTO. From these questions they were invited to a few economic conferences as representatives of the WTO itself. Seizing upon this opportunity, they dutifully cut their flowing locks, got Op Shop suits, and represented the WTO as honestly as they believed possible.

While we get only get a brief overview of what exactly makes the WTO so horrible, the doco chooses to concentrate on the humour of the whole situation. What the organisation does is so mind bogglingly out there, it's refreshing to see a doco that isn't overtly flash (Michael Moore, anyone?), long (The Corporation required two toilet breaks) or serious. We get to sit back and enjoy the ride leading up to aforementioned conferences, laugh at the slapstick humor, and yes – learn about the WTO. The latter gets nailed in with the last conference that the two attend in Australia, announcing that the WTO has realised that it has not made the difference in world economics that it had planned to, and will thus shut itself down.

I'd strongly suggest checking this doco out; it's a quick, whipsmart film that moves along at a steady clip while demonstrating just how far two guys can take a joke.