Our Brand Is Crisis

There are numerous movies and TV series that are dealing with elections. Most of them are focusing (obviously) in the electoral race and their climax is the outcome of the election. Some of them though have a stronger, more political message. A "morale" if you prefer...

"Our Brand Is Crisis" starts as a comedy but in its epilogue says some hard truths about the world we are living.

Sandra Bullock stars as the depressed campaign manager who essentially wants to beat her opposite colleague (a really thin Billy Bob Thornton) with whom share a past both professionally and personally. She looks really good, especially in the beginning of the film, before she experiences "soroche" (Altitude sickness) in the heights of Bolivia.

The script is intelligent and has a few funny moments, but it is obvious that the winning an electoral race isn't the main theme here. It is what happens after that. How easily could manipulate people, who hasn't realized that his vote it is not only his strongest power, it is his only power.

Politicians have fake promises and lies into their blood stream. They could tell and promise anything so they get elected and then forget about it. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it, but still act and vote without really thinking. "Our Brand Is Crisis" tries to remind that to its audience.

Overall: A movie which easy to watch. Not a "big" movie. Has its moments. Sandy looks good and there is a morale so to make you think twice before you vote in the next elections...

"Our Brand Is Crisis" (2015 release; 107 min.) brings the story of "Calamity" Jane Bodine (played by Sandra Bullock). As the movie opens, Jane is discussed by a couple of campaigners who are driving up North to meet her, and we learn that Jane has been away from politics for 6 years and lost the previous four campaigns she was involved in. Yet they are desperate enough to convince her to come aboard. The candidate? A Senator in Bolivia who is down by 28 points. On top of that, the leader in the polls has hired how own US campaign consultant (played by Billy Bob Thornton). At this point we're 15 minute into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience. You'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments, as noted in the movie's opening credits, the movie is "suggested by the documentary by Rachel Boynton" (from 2005). The movie is directed by David Gordon Green, best known fir "Joe" and "Pineapple Express". While the 2005 documentary was a riveting look at how American-style politics might (or might not) work in a place like Bolivia, the 2015 movie version cannot make up its mind whether to be a comedy, a satire or a drama. It has some elements of all three but in the end it isn't funny enough (even though there are a couple of very funny moments), or biting enough to resonate. The movie is saved by Sandra Bullock, who oozes charm and charisma, and Billy Bob Thornton, as his rival. The scenes in which they directly interact are stellar. Snarls Thornton to Bullock: "when you play long enough with the monsters, you become a monster", ha! The movie also lacks a surprising amount of character development. Do we really know all that much more about 'Calamity' Jane at the end of the movie? .

"Our Brand Is Crisis" opened nationwide this weekend, and even though I had my doubts that it could live up to the original documentary, I nevertheless decided to check it out. The Saturday matinée screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was nicely attended, somewhat to my surprise to be honest. If you haven't seen the 2005 documentary of the same name, I would strongly encourage you to check that out before you see this. Even though the facts in the documentary are now 13 years old, it remains a must-see film about politics and campaigning. The 2015 fictional version is not a must-see, but it makes for an interesting exercise to compare the documentary against the fictional version.

8.1 of 10. Not quite as enjoyable as the 2005 documentary that it's named after, but definitely adds to the story and makes it more exciting and funnier for those not into political documentaries.

It also provides a better look at Bolivia. Much of the documentary is stuck inside or looking at the politicians when they occasionally step outside. Here, the film explores the country and goes where the documentary, possibly for safety reasons, never treaded.

The acting and casting is surprisingly good. Not the people you'd expect for the main roles, yet they fit in extraordinarily well.

Not the best politically natured film of the year (that goes to Big Short), but definitely the best and most insightful film on modern election politics and "democracy".

Political consultant Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) had a mental breakdown and lives in seclusion. Nell (Ann Dowd), Buckley (Scoot McNairy), and Ben (Anthony Mackie) hire her to consult on the failing campaign of Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) as Bolivian President. He is a former leader who instigated harsh tactics and politics. She discovers old foe Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton) is running the leading candidate's campaign. She brings in LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan) to do opposition research.

This movie wants to be a powerful statement against politics but is also trying to be a silly comedy. The fact that it's dealing with realistic world politics means that it needs to be more vicious. It needs to be darker. It needs to hit harder. The charismatic Bullock is stuck in no-woman's land. She is still compelling and fun although fun is not necessarily the needed adjective.

"No wrong but losing."

Three things I learned from watching David Gordon Green's Our Brand is Crisis: 1. Politics is universally corrupt—The Bolivian election "Calamity" Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) is hired as a strategist for has the very machinations extant in our own balloting as I write this column.

2. What a candidate does after election may have nothing to do what he or she promised to get elected.

3. Sandra Bullock can act--heretofore I have not been impressed, but in this film she sheds her cute starlet demeanor and plays a bright, depressive, frequently losing marketing adviser with enough brilliance left after her battles to pull together a competitive campaign. Her fragile nature combined with grit makes for a moderately complicated character.

Our Brand is Crisis, adapted by director David Gordon Green and writer Peter Straughan from Rachel Boynton's 2005 documentary of the same name, is sometimes uncompromising about the low-ball shenanigans of a campaign, with tricks such as spreading lies about an opponent or spreading lies about your candidate to allow him to deny and ascribe the rumor to his opponent.

It is gratifying to see that Jane is not above dirty tricks, nor does she win each skirmish with the likes of her marketing opponent, Pat Brady (a slick, smarmy, bald Billy Bob Thornton, based on Clinton strategist James Carville).

Jane's past includes a stint at a mental hospital and questionable tactics, one of which apparently led to a suicide. She is not the usual glam Bullock; rather she is a shaggy, disheveled blond with self doubt and frequently nauseous from the Bolivian altitude. At any rate she is not the consultant Senator Castillo (Joaquin de Almeida) thought he was paying for.

Nor does the film give her transcendent moments of inspiration: What comes of success is learned experience and a bit of luck. No deus ex machina in this drama. In fact, as Green marries her pratfalls with her sometimes drunken speech, it's difficult to see where the usually focused Green and his movie want us to go: Drama? Comedy? Satire?

The differences between what Jane wants from the candidate and what he wants provide effective moments of speechifying that illuminate the process and develop character. Ben (Anthony Mackie), who runs the campaign, has the right stuff to hire Jane and question her methods while retaining a healthy sense of humor.

Our Brand is Crisis is a not-too-subtle look into politics and marketing. Although you won't be surprised, you will be gratified that what you suspected about the dirty tactics that go along with each is true. Just put a few top actors in the roles, and you will believe.