The gimmick they use is at this point a bit threadbare, but Ami Horowitz and Matthew Groff certainly succeed in generating outrage with “U.N. Me,” a sassy documentary that suggests the United Nations is doing more harm than good.
The filmmakers take a wide-ranging look at recent United Nation failures: peacekeepers accused of crimes, the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, inaction in Darfur. Not much here is new, but condensing it all into one zippy documentary makes for an ugly portrait.
The film employs techniques favored by Michael Moore and some of Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” crew, using satire to confront satire-challenged officials. Mr. Horowitz, the on-camera gadfly, finds ways to work wit into decidedly unpleasant subject matter.
He gets an audience with Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman, Sudan’s ambassador to the United Nations, who tries to blame drought and climate change for the crisis in Darfur. “So maybe the Prius is the answer to all our problems there,” Mr. Horowitz says.
The clueless look on the ambassador’s face is amusing enough, but at the same time you feel the limits of the form. As Mr. Stewart would be the first to admit, mocking easy targets isn’t serious journalism...
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