FYRE

By Marc S. Sanders

Fyre is a newly released Netflix documentary directed by Chris Smith that displays the hubris of a young entrepreneur named Billy McFarland, a despicable human being.

It’s an interesting story simply because Billy had all the writing on the wall yet proceeded with duping Bahamian island workers, influencers, web app designers, musical acts and concert goers into investing millions of dollars and hours of time and service into a music fest, the “Fyre Festival,” that could never possibly happen. People lost wages, ended up stranded and starved. Ultimately people were duped by the attractiveness of Instagram and Facebook, and they wanted to live within the images of what they saw.

Chris Smith offers strikingly beautiful pictures of Billy living it up with rapper Ja Rule and gorgeous women on a private island he boasts that he purchased from Pablo Escobar. The rapper and Billy think up an idea to offer the greatest music fest ever conceived. Concert goers can experience the concert while mingling with super models and celebrities, partake in the finest foods from world renowned chefs, and reside in beautiful cabanas. Thousands of people invested thousands of dollars in what could only be an illusion offered by well edited sun soaked, blue water, and white sand film footage with tan bikini models and jet skis. What they got was cheese and lettuce on bread with a rain soaked hurricane tent and a soggy strewn about mattress.

Question was who’s paying for all these acts and talent? Whose booking all of this? What about bathrooms and where is everyone expected to reside during the event?

It was a pipe dream disaster from the get go and Chris Smith’s documentary shows the orchestrator of it all act with reckless abandon and false optimism.

It’s an interesting piece. McFarland is as corrupt as a Kenneth Levy or a Bernie Madoff. One associate describes Billy as a man who knows how to separate the cash from the consumer. I believe that after watching the film. To live a life of fantasy is tempting to all of us. We all at one point yearn for something greater. Billy McFarland pounced on that idea imbedded in everyone.

Fyre will serve as warning for a buyer to beware.