The Yes Men Are Coming! The Yes Men Are Coming!

As usual, the trade representatives and reporters in the Sydney audience are oblivious to the ruse, but what’s startling is how happy and relieved they all seem, as if they had been silently praying that the vast global corporate mechanism in which they play their coggish roles would somehow come to its senses and play fair. It’s a profoundly bittersweet moment and one that ultimately refutes any intimation that the Yes Men’s mission is frivolous or cynical. Because it seems to demonstrate, against conventional wisdom from both ends of the political spectrum, that there is no “them,” just lapses in the communication of information — and perhaps courage.

Certainly the Yes Men can’t be accused of that. “I see you have five lawyers listed in the credits,” observes one Berkeley radical during the Q&A. “How much were they involved in planning your actions?”

“Well, they were mostly there after the fact because of McDonald’s. In case someone might think that the reBurger [recycled-shit hamburger] program was real and tell someone else about it,” laughs Bichlbaum. “When we actually did this stuff, we didn’t look into the legal aspects, except out of curiosity — what might happen to us.”

“I think it’s great what you do,” says a 20-something woman from a middle row. “But what can I do?”

“Just find something to do,” answers Bonanno, “and do it.” He pauses. “We don’t have any special talents for doing these things. Imagine what professional actors could do. There’s all kind of opportunities, on both the right and left, of sincere, dedicated groups of people working to bring about political change. And it’s easy to meet them and learn from them and maybe affect how they think. If they accept you.”

What more is there to say? Except, of course, “Yes.”

The Yes Men premieres at the Silver Lake Film Festival on September 23, and opens at the ArcLight and Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex on September 24. See Calendar for Ella Taylor’s review.