Janes cynicismshe regards herself, the candidate, and everyone else as a pawnis so over-the-top that it threatens to derail Our Brand is Crisis: Who cares about the election if she doesnt? They are then in a restaurant, the entire campaign team drinking heavily. I get it -- Green and Straughan and Participant were trying to make a Sandra Bullock movie that Warner Bros. can put onto thousands of theater screens. Thankfully, were usually too wrapped up in Bullocks great performance to mind the films cognitive dissonance. NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jason. Although she was once a wunderkind of the political strategy community, she lost her last four campaigns, the speculation that being the reason she dropped out of sight. The film, directed by David Gordon Green and based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, follows Bullock's character Jane Bodine, a political mastermind brought in to help a Bolivian. [16], On August 21, 2014, Bullock's casting was confirmed, playing a retired political consultant called 'Calamity' Jane Bodine, and David Gordon Green was set to direct the film. Jane insists to the campaign team that this was set up by Candy. There just arent enough cigarettes or bottles of Scotch in the world to give any political consultant the power that we, in our fits of frustration, guiltily wish they had. The interviewer talks about his son. Even worse, it turns out to be a humanist, socialist, anti-capitalist message about "the people" rising up to establish some sort of vague communist brotherhood centered . A bus race ensues around dangerous bends and cliffs. The American consultants, not knowing the language or the culture of Bolivia, are persuaded by Bodine, a burned out veteran of American politics, to follow a strategy of smear campaigning to make up for their candidate's shortcomings. The boys (all adult age) are living alone because their parents have both died. However, Castillo refuses to give permission for the team to do so. : What The Hell Happened? Eddie and his brothers join the protests and are shouting angry chants. Then Jane figures out a hook: To make Castillo more attractive than the frontrunner (a young, engaged populist who represents hope and change), she has to sell the idea that the country doesnt need someone, well, likable. In the following months, the team exercises a strategy of "declaring a crisis". She describes the Daisy advertisement, which ran exactly once, that turned the election for Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater. She doesnt respond. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s. And yet in David Gordon Greens tale of political fixers, Our Brand Is Crisis, he wants to find hope. Our Brand is Crisis may be director David Gordon Green's most sterile picture yet, but it's redeemed somewhat by Sandra Bullock's lead performance, as well as a talented ensemble cast . Right before the debate with the 3 leading candidates, Jane is sitting alone in the lecture hall, reading Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, and is soon joined by Candy. Among the many achievements of HBOs Veep is its discovery of a new, post-Carville political consultant character, one thats just as cuttingly entertaining but truer to reality. It is considered to be the most important process in public relations." At an evening event, Castillo is shaking hands with people behind a barrier. The corporations whined and complained, but ultimately decided that 18 percent was a lot better than nothing. PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. That's true even in "Our Brand Is Crisis," a . Thats why Hollywood had to invent a character with such powers: the knowing, salty political consultant. Cut back to the interview that opened the film. There's only one wrong in this, only one, and that is losing!". The train begins to leave and Candy is furious. South Africa - DM Listen, 18 Dec Ramaphosa's Renew22 team decides to back Mabuyane over Lamola - When the Renew22 caucus met on Day 3 of the ANC's National Elective Conference, at least 2,400 delegates agreed to support Cyril Ramaphosa's bid for a second term as party president, with Oscar Mabuyane as his second in command. She tells Nell she needs to pull some string with her contacts at the Bolivian State Department, in order to take votes from Castillo, and give them to Volasco (another candidate). Their main tactic is to emphasize the many problems of the economy and present Castillo as the solution. In its opening weekend, it was projected to make $57 million from 2,202 theaters,[23] however only ended up grossing $3.2 million, finishing eighth at the box office. There is something deeply disturbing about American political strategists helping an unpopular politician return back to presidency in a country as different as Bolivia. Castillo wins the vote by a small margin. February 27, 2023. Busy Phillips Is Not Like a Regular Mom, Shes a Cool Mom, Theres nothing wrong with Busy Phillips being cast as Mrs. George in the upcoming, In Search of Tom and Katies Bubba Painting, Maybe punting on the larger plot can be forgiven if we get a sweet. Candy calls Jane and invites her to go out again. What part should morality play in politics? Covering the hottest movie and TV topics that fans want. Jane is elated and tells the communication team to talk to the press and inform them Rivera just used a quote from Joseph Goebbels, the head Nazi propaganda minister. Before a campaign stop, Jane tells Eddie to help Castillo roll up his sleeves. Someone smashes an egg on Castillo, who spectacularly punches the assailant. After this incident, however, Castillo shows the other side of him by being kind to protesters who throw rocks at his bus. Our Brand is Crisis is more than just the scenario Jane (Sandra Bullock) is selling to the Bolivian public in hopes of bringing her candidate Castillo from a blip on the radar to leading the. Walking into the room with the campaign team, she gives a fiery and inspirational speech about how important it is to go negative, and that anybody with a problem with that will be given a set of balls. "- Castillo: This llama will lead us toward prosperity. 17-Down, Three Letters: Party for One artist Carly ___ Jepsen. ------------------------------------------. Jane highlights something in the book. There are also two middle finger displays. Some said it was staunchly communist. When people say its a communist movie, I think they are hugely misunderstanding the movies point. Instead, both end up outside of their hotel rooms so they can see each other. There is only one wrong thing to do, she says: Losing. The website's critical consensus reads, "Our Brand Is Crisis offers sporadic amusement and benefits from a talented cast, but ultimately lacks enough of a bite to add much of interest to the political satire genre. Some of her pranks, specifically one ploy to feed her candidates unsuspecting competitor a Nazi quotation during the campaigns final debate, are good for a laugh. When she starts giving it back to himpsyching him outthe movie gets really good. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". They reluctantly agree, but the city is in gridlock due to the protests, which are on the verge of becoming riots. But the main mystery to me was the message of this film. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The premise doesn't really show up until the end of the movie. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential. Jane says it will be an honor. The cinematic trope has retroactively kept a light on devilish George H.W. His loyalty comes mostly from the fact that Castillo, who was president at the time, took a young Eduardo on his arm during a rally in his town. Our Brand Is Crisis is being released by Warner Bros., but was largely funded by Participant Media, which produces what it calls socially relevant films and documentaries. In other words, in this case the right-wingers are correct: Liberal Hollywood is in full effect. (R. 107 minutes.) It is a record turnout and at days end, the results are: Castillo 23.5%, Rivera 22.8%, Volasco 21.9%. Um, yes. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Castillo immediately punches the man. OUR BRAND IS CRISIS barely holds together as the story moves from campaign incident to campaign incident. One woman says he has a weird smile. She will work on the campaign of anybody, provided the money is right. In the mix is a fine supporting cast including a sensational Thornton . Somebody on the Castillo bus says Jane has a great ass! (And she does. We just want to dive into a pool without having to hold onto our bottoms. Thats the problem with focusing a story on the diabolical strategist, the one mythical figure in this godforsaken political system whos got it all figured out. Terms of Service apply. All this makes for mid-grade entertainment value, at best. See list of Relevant Issuesquestions-and-answers. Maybe its time to put it out to pasture. One of the llamas is hit by a truck. Jane is seen having a moment of introspection. Some reviews said it was ambiguous. By Manohla Dargis. A screenshot shows Castillo at 8% with Rivera leading with 36%. Rated R You want to know how the Janes of the world happen. Loosely based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis offers a fictionalized take on the 2002 Bolivian Presidential election with a cast that includes Academy Award. Politics is a dirty business, but Our Brand Is Crisis doesn't stick its hands into the muck sufficiently to be as entertaining or stinging as it could be. The interviewer says she's been known by many names, most notably "Calamity Jane". Jane is so nauseous from her travel and the elevation she leaves and is heard throwing up. Thornton is sleek, clammy, and leering. Eduardo, a young volunteer of the Castillo campaign, is deeply impressed by this show of commitment. [17][18] Filming also took place in the Bonnet Carr Spillway in Norco in St. Charles Parish. Starring Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton. The way Jane and her team approaches politics makes them good at their job, but it also makes them cynical people, and the movie rarely questions their behavior until the very end when it does so in the most heavy-handed manner possible. Thanks for reading the spoiler. They just decided to be ingratiating and sentimental. Montage of the press reporting throughout the day. [11] More casting was also announced, which included Reynaldo Pacheco, Dominic Flores, Louis Arcella, and Octavio Gmez. Our sophisticated political flimflam could make more inroads than the Marshall Plan. The movie opens with a title sequence regarding the main character Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and her rise and fall from hotshot political strategist/image . Rivera then repeats the quote Jane told Candy. Privacy Policy and Greens last three picturesPrince Avalanche, Joe, and Manglehornfelt like personal indie films, and Our Brand Is Crisis seems like an attempt to reach back into the mainstream with a mix of comedy and pathos, and yet it also comes off like a journeyman feature. Soon enough she is smoking, drinking, and scheming again, signaling to the viewer that shes back to her antiheroic winning ways. As a result of this, Castillo agrees to start running a negative campaign. Janes voice is heard saying, If you dont like the road youre on, start paving a new one.. After a traumatizing career as a political campaign consultant, Bodine has retired to the snowy mountains, where she doesnt smoke and makes bowls. That was almost certainly the final straw. The problem is that they do such a good job selling this Jane that they do exactly what theyre supposed to do: They make you curious about her. So yes, throughout the film, the protagoniststhe ones portrayed as good guysuse communistic propaganda. But every once in a while, you come across a movie that seems to be driving an evil message all the way through, and then suddenly the ending takes a moral turn and shows that the protagonists were wrong. Its educational and leaves you with serious thoughts about political power. In case the true story behind the baffling and approximately well-intentioned Sandra Bullock star vehicle Our Brand Is Crisis makes any difference, here it is: Way back in the innocent days of 2002 (Im kidding about innocent), the high-powered political consulting firm Greenberg Carville Shrum parachuted into Bolivia to take up the cause of a struggling presidential candidate named Gonzalo Snchez de Lozada, universally known as Goni. Rachel Boynton, a documentary director whose work focuses on ideology, politics and power (her most recent movie, Big Men, is about the global workings of the oil industry), came along and made an extraordinary film about that campaign, whose title was drawn from a telling phrase coined by one of the GCS consultants. Verdict. At the start of the campaign, which he's hired an American consulting firm to run, he is 28 points behind in the polls and running sixth in the crowded field, he, a globalist, largely seen by the indigenous poor majority, representing approximately 50 percent of the population, as being an elitist, out of touch with their needs and thus generally disliked as a personality. Theres no redemption to be found with the people who are ruining liveswho have no belief in politicians or voters; people who have basically given up on humanity and play with public policy like a kid with a loaded gun. A graphic shows with 24 days left until the election, Castillo has 19% and Rivera has 30%. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. I say, beat Candy because Jane doesnt really care that much about Castillo or Bolivia. Does he drink too much? Before long the SUV comes to a stop in the heavy traffic on the tiny streets. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. Although I hasten to add that even by the standards of Bullocks implacable, steel-jawed underacting this is a dull performance. Things you buy through our links may earnNew Yorka commission. Their main tactic is to emphasize the many problems of the economy and present . "Our Brand Is Crisis" is both the title of and a line from a new political comedy about American consultants who take over a Bolivian presidential campaign. As it happens and Im sure all this is coincidental Bolivia contains immense natural gas reserves, the second-largest in South America after Venezuela, whose national resources had been rendered largely off limits to outside investors by the rise of socialist president Hugo Chvez. In a Netflix comedy by Katharine McPhees stepdaughter. Candys played by Billy Bob Thornton, and his serpentine southern charm and minimalist tonsorial stylings suggest real-life political maven James Carville (and it is perhaps no accident that Thornton played a deep-fried political strategist in Primary Colors, too) who was in the aforementioned documentary. Castillo's bus is stopped by a group of protesters who don't want the International Monetary Fund in Bolivia. They talk about the book and Mephistopheles, with whom Faust makes a wager for his soul. Let me know how that goes. Jane then joins the mass of people who are walking toward the city. In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Castillo hires an American political consulting firm (based on James Carville's Greenberg Carville Shrum firm) to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. Since 2006, Bolivia has been governed by Evo Morales, the indigenous leader whose protest movement led to Gonis downfall. Vanessa Bryant Settles Helicopter-Crash Photo Lawsuit for $28.85 Million. Read his answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here. Written by Peter Straughan, and according to its credits inspired by the 2005 documentary film of the same name, Our Brand is Crisis uneasily mixes the star vehicle with the screwball-political-comedy/satire with the (half-heartedly, in the end) impassioned call to social consciousness arms. This film isnt as dark as Burnt, and has more amusing moments, including some comic relief, but still shouldnt be classified as a comedy. There are dozens of pottery jars and bowls covering the walls. Besser. LeBlanc discovers Rivera has purchased 27 vehicles with taxpayer money at the cost of about 35-40 vehicles. Throughout almost all of the film, Jane and her team use dirty manipulation to campaign for Castillo. Afterwards, Jane sends 3 Bolivian singers to show up at Candys door. It is only the knowing, salty political consultant who can bridge the gap between political reality and tidy fictional narrative. Jane gets blasted, leaks misinformation, vandalizes Candys room, and sabotages his candidates rallies the way he sabotaged her candidates. Castillo's American consultants, knowing that they need ideas outside the box, recruit "retired" political strategist "Calamity" Jane Bodine, who has lived somewhat off the grid and has not worked on a political campaign in six years. Candy can be seen watching the action in the background. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. On a bus trip to a mountainous countryside, protesters start throwing rocks at the bus. Rivera is on, holding two babies during a campaign stop, confessing how hes doubly lucky, and promises to run a positive campaign. So I knew that, in this case, I would just have to find out for myself. Still offensive? She quotes, It may be alright to have a power that is based on guns. By what name was Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) officially released in India in English? Played for laughs? Our Brand Is Crisis review - dirty political dealings in South America. Once a political idealist, she increasingly was a strategist for hire outwardly not caring about the actual politics of her boss. Although Castillos populist opponent doesnt seem to have much integrity (the character does in the documentary), we still know that Castillo has less, that hes a dreadful man. He tells a story about a campaign run by Adlai Stevenson in which Stevenson is told everything thinking person would vote for him, to which Stevenson replies that is not enough. Ben says, ok. His slickness fits the milieu. Unfortunately, the quote is actually from Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's minister of propaganda. Not seeing what she highlighted, Candy asks about it. In its best moments, Our Brand Is Crisis is reminiscent of Wag the Dog; it knows how fucked politics is and acts accordingly. It is revealed that she retired after violating election laws. Whats ultimately most frustrating is the evidence that the makers of this movie were fully capable of creating something as smart and ruthless as its lead character. 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