"Our Brand is Crisis": Spin doctors operate on the politics of Bolivia
Subject matter dominates over filmmaking craft in Rachel Boynton's somewhat sloppy but otherwise riveting documentary, "Our Brand is Crisis," in which Bolivia's 2002 presidential election is subjected to the same focus groups and marketing strategies applied to 7Up and Happy Meals.
"It's strictly business," said Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," and so it is with Jeremy Rosner and his colleagues at GCS, the political consultancy firm led by wild-man pundit James Carville. They're more benevolent than mob bosses, but as it turns out, their work has similarly deadly consequences when it's time to "go to the mattresses."
"Our Brand is Crisis," with Jeremy Rosner, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, James Carville. Directed by Rachel Boynton. 87 minutes. Not rated; contains mild language, graphic news footage. Varsity.
The GCS team has assembled to assure the campaign victory of former Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, whose previous and mostly unpopular term (1993-97) ended with "Goni" stepping down in a country ravaged by unemployment, corruption and poverty. Carville's gang arrives like the cavalry, mistakenly thinking their methods are going to yield a win-win scenario for everyone.
"I just went through the same thing in Ireland," says one GCS consultant, apparently under the illusion that all political problems can be solved with the proper marketing spin. He's wrong, of course, as we see when Bolivia erupts in deadly riots and anarchy.
First-time documentarian Boynton never quite latches on to the sheer madness of marketing a presidential candidate as if he were an alternative to Diet Pepsi, but the hubris of GCS consultants is a marvel to behold. Rosner reflects sadly on his failure in Bolivia, but he still returned home with an easily cleared conscience, as if to say "better luck next time."
That's easy to say when you don't live in Bolivia.
Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net