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Movies / On DVD / Our Brand Is Crisis
Our Brand Is Crisis

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Our Brand Is Crisis (2005)

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Reviews Counted:38

Fresh:35

Rotten:3

Average Rating:7.3/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Mar 1, 2006 Limited

Synopsis: Rachel Boynton's excellent, probing documentary goes behind-the-scenes to show the manipulation and orchestration that is involved in big-time political campaigning. OUR BRAND IS CRISIS follows... Rachel Boynton's excellent, probing documentary goes behind-the-scenes to show the manipulation and orchestration that is involved in big-time political campaigning. OUR BRAND IS CRISIS follows members of the consulting firm of Greenberg Carville Shrum to Bolivia, where they have been hired to help controversial candidate Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada reclaim the presidency. With only a few weeks left before the election, consultants Jeremy Rosner, Stan Greenberg, and James Carville work their magic, softening Goni's liberal image and shaping his message to appeal to the masses. In his typically audacious fashion, Carville delivers some of the film's most unforgettable quips. Meanwhile, the unemployment situation is threatening to spark a full-fledged national riot, raising the stakes even higher. Boynton's film is edited at a brisk, taut pace, adding drama to the already tense proceedings. An insightful after-the-fact interview with Rosner provides even greater context for the horrific situation that unfolded a year later and which, in fact, opens the film with a bang. Enlightening, engaging, and thought provoking, OUR BRAND IS CRISIS is a vital, profound work of nonfiction cinema. [More]

Starring: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada

Starring: Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada

Director: Rachel Boynton

Director: Rachel Boynton
Producer: Rachel Boynton
Studio: Koch Lorber Films

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Release:

Sep 5, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • A Film by Rachel Boynton.
  • For decades, U.S. strategists-for-hire have been quietly molding the opinions of voters and the messages of candidates in elections from the Middle East to the South American jungle. OUR BRAND IS CRISIS follows James Carville, Jeremy Rosner, and a team of political consultants as they launch a media-savvy campaign for Bolivian presidential candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. With unprecedented access to think sessions, media training, and the making of smear campaigns, witness a shocking example of America "spreading democracy" overseas and its earth-shattering aftermath.
  • "Momentous...astounding!" Laura Kern, The New York Times
  • "...a fascinating glimpse of the Americanized marketing of international politics..." Premiere Magazine
  • WINNER: International Documentary Association (IDA) Award
  • Source: Koch Entertainment Distribution
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Our Brand Is Crisis

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    1 - 20 (sorted by fresh rating)
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    Boynton's main concerns are the exportation of American image advisers to other countries, and the notion that this faith in marketing is inherent in America's democratic ideology.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
    04/14/06
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    What the film ably shows is how a band of Washington consultants can contribute to bloodshed and near societal collapse in a Third World nation whose politics can't be reduced to the same Beltway template now being exported around the world.

    Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
    03/01/06
    Chris Barsanti
    Chris Barsanti
    Filmcritic.com

    It takes awhile to get to its point, but it has one.

    Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
    04/13/06
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
    St. Paul Pioneer Press

    Crisis is angry and intrigued at the same time, and so are we.

    Full Review Source: DVDTalk.com | comment Comment
    09/20/06
    David Cornelius
    David Cornelius
    DVDTalk.com

    Among other things, Our Brand Is Crisis is about the failure of good intentions -- a potent American theme at the moment.

    Full Review Source: New Yorker | comment Comment
    02/28/06
    David Denby
    David Denby
    New Yorker
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Only a naïf would be surprised by Our Brand Is Crisis, but only a nihilist would not be alarmed by the endless reverberations of Boynton’s case study—and by its suggestion of a systemic separation of modern politics and the national good.

    Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
    03/01/06
    David Edelstein
    David Edelstein
    New York Magazine
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Our Brand is Crisis looks to remind well-meaning people like Carville and Rosner to put the humanity in brand marketing.

    Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
    02/26/06
    Ed Gonzalez
    Ed Gonzalez
    Slant Magazine

    Rachel Boynton’s painfully timely film is actually a full-court tragedy -- the sorry tale of a battle won and a war lost.

    Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
    04/13/06
    Ella Taylor
    Ella Taylor
    L.A. Weekly

    Our Brand Is Crisis is not just for political junkies and should be widely seen and discussed.

    Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
    03/01/07
    Eric Monder
    Eric Monder
    Film Journal International

    Ultimately provides a vivid illustration of the not-so-hopeful future of international politics.

    Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
    03/14/06
    Frank Scheck
    Frank Scheck
    Hollywood Reporter

    Boynton maintains a relatively level tone and clear eye and, thus, allows her audience to ask some hard questions about whether our democratic process translates all that clearly in other countries.

    Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
    03/01/06
    Gene Seymour
    Gene Seymour
    Newsday
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Boynton asks: That's the democracy we want to export? For well-paid political consultants like Carville, it's a rhetorical question.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
    04/14/06
    Glenn Whipp
    Glenn Whipp
    Los Angeles Daily News

    Fascinating doc about how Bolivia markets its chief executive.

    Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
    04/11/06
    Harvey S. Karten
    Harvey S. Karten
    Compuserve

    Exotic location notwithstanding, Rachel Boynton's riveting political documentary Our Brand Is Crisis is a sequel to the Clinton-era campaign vérité, The War Room.

    Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
    02/28/06
    J. Hoberman
    J. Hoberman
    Village Voice
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Subject matter dominates over filmmaking craft in Rachel Boynton's somewhat sloppy but otherwise riveting documentary.

    Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
    08/18/06
    Jeff Shannon
    Jeff Shannon
    Seattle Times

    This unlikely pairing of relentless U.S. pollsters and a Bolivian election is a fascinating glimpse of the Americanized marketing of international politics (and vice versa).

    Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
    03/14/06
    Jessica Letkemann
    Jessica Letkemann
    Premiere Magazine

    The movie is both frightening and ironically funny, sometimes both.

    Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
    11/24/06
    John Monaghan
    John Monaghan
    Detroit Free Press

    What's suspenseful -- and so troubling - is seeing exactly how far the 'progressives' of GCS are willing to go to put a decidedly unpopular candidate back in office, regardless of what it will mean for the future of the country and for Bolivian democracy.

    Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
    03/01/06
    Ken Fox
    Ken Fox
    TV Guide's Movie Guide

    Unlikely as it sounds, a documentary that details with jaw-dropping candor how contemporary political campaigning works at the highest levels of government is set not in this country but in the far-off reaches of Bolivia.

    Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
    04/13/06
    Kenneth Turan
    Kenneth Turan
    Los Angeles Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Boynton's film explores the inescapable link between American democracy and capitalism and why what seems to work for us can be so disastrous elsewhere.

    Full Review Source: Reeling Reviews | comment Comment
    06/17/06
    Laura Clifford
    Laura Clifford
    Reeling Reviews
     
     
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