In 2017, massive craze over a music event titled Fyre Festival took over social media with many models and social media influencers advertising the event. The event was to market the app Fyre Media which was created by the same company as the festival. After consumers had purchased tickets for the event, it began to take production. Unfortunately, it was not completed on time and attendees arrived to cheap quality resources such as open tents with wet mattresses.

Now 2019, Netflix has created a documentary detailing the events leading to the luxury music festival’s downfall. The event was one which would be held on an island in the Bahamas with the attendance of multiple performing artists and A-list celebrities. Thousands of individuals bought their tickets with expectations that were formed under false advertisements, for example instead of the promised five-star meals consumers paid for they were served cheese on bread and salad with dressing.

The documentary consisted of accounts from organizers and attendees on the design, execution, and aftermath of the festival. A common theme from organizers was the false promises made by the founders of the festival, entrepreneur Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule. The film seemed to focus on these accounts throughout the process of the festival “coming together”, making it repetitive.

The personal accounts of the organizers seemed to be the sole way in which details of the scam was provided, with the organizers often stating how they had to execute their assigned agendas without being completely sure if they were possible. The documentary didn’t go into much depth on these agendas but were rather quickly referenced, thus the documentary seemed to withhold as much information as wikipedia.

On the other hand, it was interesting to hear the perspectives of attendees from their arrival to the venue to their continued experiences with the company after the scandal. For example, after McFarland had first been arrested for the fraudulent festival, the new “face of Fyre” – representative of NYC VIP Access Frank Tribble – had sent countless emails to ticket buyers of the festival that claimed he had VIP tickets for events such as concerts for low prices.

The documentary then quickly wrapped up by detailing the consequences of the scam. Many who had worked under McFarland and Ja Rule were laid off and either not paid for their work or weren’t provided benefits. After McFarland was set out on bail, he continued to engage in fraudulent behavior, and was arrested once again. He was then sentenced to six years in prison and was ordered to pay $26 million in restitution to investors.

All in all, the documentary is a good fit for when you can’t find something to watch on Netflix, but due to its lack of depth, it’s a film that can be passed up on.