Fyre (2019)

- Fyre: The greatest party that never happened. (2019. Dir. Chris Smith). Documentary about the creation and outcome of the infamous disaster that was the "Fyre Festival" of 2017, with a special focus on the many, many crimes of founder Billy McFarland. 

The thing about documentaries concerning scandals and true crimes: We watch them primarily  out of morbid fascination. Natural curiosity, even if sometimes it can risk running into heartless schadenfreude (if not dive headlong into it). Look how better off you are than these strangers. It can also be informative --not exactly as a guide on how to avoid danger (it is not possible to avoid it all, such is life), but rather to see how do things like this happen. How does a bad idea snowball into a mess that makes the news? 

This particular event would seem a perfect opportunity to mock self-absorbed rich kids who got swindled not once but twice by an internet celebrity (even as he was on trial for for fraud, McFarland tried to swindle all attendants to his failed festival out of money to bribe the jury. He was, by all accounts, unable to grasp the idea that he might face jail time). And there is something of that, certainly: In their own videos, these youngsters show a remarkable lack of common sense and an astounding level of ignorance about travel safety. They are also shown to be quick to turn on each other the second they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation --a group that does not  know how to bear hardships nor how to organize. 

Yet there are two other, more interesting details here. 

The first is the impact the entire project took on the actual residents and workers of the  island of Great Exuma --the image of native workers forced to work around the clock to build a white man's deranged pipe dream is chillingly similar to far too many historical events. 

The second is a specific bit of commentary that can easily fly over most people's heads on a first view. The "Fyre Festival" idea, as McFarland himself lets slip in a casual video, as never truly about organizing a music festival (this would have worked even with no infrastructure. As long as there is live music and alcohol, people will endure anything), nor about swindling (such a thing most definitely went on, but more due to McFarland's incompetence and inability to accept a "no" for an answer than due to any premeditated action), not about promoting his ultimately non-existing booking app, and not even about making an exclusive festival for snooty rich people. 

No, the true purpose is, in a way, a more chilling reflection of how soulless the greedy lifestyle of capitalism truly can be. The Fyre Festival was originally planned to take place at Norman's Cay, an island that was famously used by drug lord Pablo Escobar as part of his trade. The infamous promotional video even made a point of this: "In a paradise island that once belonged to Pablo Escobar". McFarland lets slip in one casual interview that this is the real plan: "Selling the dream of the common man: The fantasy that for a few days they can BE Pablo Escobar." 

The hollow dream of being so powerful that you can do whatever you want, which becomes an ultimately ridiculous nightmare of your own making. In that sense, Fyre may truly represent the maladies of current times.