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Yes Men (The)
R0 - United Kingdom - Tartan Video Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (21st June 2005). |
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The Film
 I remember the first time I saw “American Movie” it was on DVD, in fact one of the first DVDs I ever watched and thinking to my self ‘holy shit I wish I didn’t ignore this film when it screened at the festival’. I don’t think I’d ever seen anything quite so disturbing and insanely funny since Kevin Smith’s indie classic “Clerks” and “American Movie” was real, it was a documentary. Ever since that moment I became a fan of Chris Smith and his crew and eagerly anticipated the next film, “Home Movie” was next and it didn’t disappoint. Smith later teamed up with colleagues Dan Ollman and Sarah Price to co-direct the next documentary “The Yes Men”. Much like “American Movie” I missed the initial opportunity to see this film during its festival run and then yet again as it got general release. Thank god for DVD. “The Yes Men” follows the exploits of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno a pair of activists that strive on poking fun at the World Trade Organization by posing as representatives and getting their message of anti-globalization across by creating and hatching over the top pranks around the world. They manage to get themselves on news broadcasts, news shows, booked for public speaking engagements at high profile events each time impersonating a member of the WTO. Each time creating a presentation that satirically nitpicks at WTO policy in an attempt to shock, but the results are surprisingly disturbing. I have no idea how these guys manage to do the stuff they are doing without being jailed for fraud, but seriously the stuff these guys have come up with is just hilarious. Some may look upon this as a film that follows a bunch of guys that have not matured past their high school level. But all the over the top stunts aside these two are doing this for a reason, to get a message across that what the WTO stands for is to keep rich countries richer and pray on the poor ones. Surprisingly their crazy schemes don’t seem to phase the highly educated, the top 1% so to speak that are presented with their ideas appear to treat it as serious. This is most shocking of all. The film is structured in a very voyeuristic manner as the filmmakers follow their antics, from the conception stages to the research they put into each project and its inevitable presentation. However funny and interesting I found the film ran past quite quickly, the film doesn’t really take anytime to give us any factual background about the WTO and its policies that may be unknown to some viewers as well a deeper look into the origins of “The Yes Men” would have also been beneficial. We do, however get many candid moments with Andy and Mike as they bring us into their world which allows us to get to know them a little better. “The Yes Men” is delightfully humorous and features many outlandish moments that you’ll find yourself repeating about to friends, a true sign that film’s message was effective. I recommend this film as essential viewing.
Video
The packaging states the ratio as being 1.85:1 when in fact it comes closer to 1.73:1, this anamorphic transfer isn’t phenomenal but it serves the film very well. Shot on DV format the transfer is relatively sharp, that is for the original documentary footage used. There are other segments of the film that are made up of tape TV interviews form other sources that are fairly grainy and soft, and occasional pixilation occurs, which is a common problem with some digital-to-film transfers. There are several instances where artifacts pop up which can at some times be annoying. The upside is that this doesn’t happen too often. Overall it’s a fairly decent transfer without too many flaws.
Audio
Three soundtrack options are included on this disc, all of which are in English. We get a DTS 5.1 track, a Dolby Digital 5.1 and a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track. I chose to view the film with its DTS for the purposes of this review. Considering this is a documentary and it’s fairly dialogue heavy you’d think that a 2.0 Surround or Stereo track would be sufficient enough, but here we have a DTS track which is a nice addition, however it feels like a bit of a waste. The dialogue is very clear and distortion free, no problems there at all and all seem directed at the front speakers, the only time when I heard the surround speakers in use was during the film’s score. Unfortunately the film does not include any subtitles.
Extras
Tartan have included a few minor extras that include a UK exclusive interview as well as the film’s original theatrical trailer and a series of bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at the extras: The first extra on this disc is the UK exclusive interview with “The Yes Men”, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. During the course of 25 minutes the two field questions about their past involvements and how they chose certain pranks for scheduled appearances among other things. This interview makes for a very good companion to the film and helps fill in some gaps, and gives the viewer a broader understanding of what they are trying to achieve. Following that is the film’s original theatrical trailer as well as bonus trailers for “2046”, “Mysterious Skin”, “The Woodsman”, “The Machinist” and “Mean Creek”.
Overall
“The Yes Men” is a provocatively funny film that follows the two pranksters cause havoc for the WTO to help shed light on their less than attractive ideals and policies. Tartan has included a fairly decent image transfer despite its flaws with an adequate series of surround tracks. The DVD features a very insightful interview and trailers, however sadly omits the commentary and deleted scenes as seen on the Region 1 US release.
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