Eventually Eddie sees her and they make eye contact. Send your questions or comments about this or any other spoiler to: THEMOVIESPOILER.com. Bush strategist Lee Atwater, who by his own reported deathbed admission was an unholy monster, and to this day keeps afloat the brand of George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove. Later at her hotel room, she is still nauseous from the elevation. Old colleague Nell (Ann Dowd) brings young idealistic Ben (Anthony Mackie) up to the woods to coax Jane down to Bolivia, to manage the presidential campaign of a conservative senator whose prior stint as head of that country was pretty authoritarian. And in the real Bolivian election of 02, there was no rivalry between warring American spin doctors working for different candidates, because Goni was the only candidate who got that kind of help, in clear preference to his populist opponents on both the right and left. They reluctantly agree, but the city is in gridlock due to the protests, which are on the verge of becoming riots. 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. [24], On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 5.3/10. When people say its a communist movie, I think they are hugely misunderstanding the movies point. She spends the night in jail. LeBlanc discovers Rivera has purchased 27 vehicles with taxpayer money at the cost of about 35-40 vehicles. Instead of superhuman strength or projectile spider-webs, this puppet master has in her arsenal a penchant for drinking and smoking, instant access to the perfect quip at the perfect time, and a convenient lack of morality. Now, the film is so heavily fictionalized that it's much more an emotive or thematic . In the mix is a fine supporting cast including a sensational Thornton . Its nun versus AI in Damon Lindelofs new series. Later shell claim he got the room intentionally to get under her skin. Jane says its time to go negative. She is unable to breath and is using an oxygen mask on the car ride to campaign headquarters. Around the edges of this story about Bullocks character, an especially ruthless consultant known as Calamity Jane, there are a few intriguing hints of other stories about the international financial system, the power of fear in politics and the American understanding of what democracy means when applied to other people in other countries. document.write(ts+'script src="http://www.burstnet.com/cgi-bin/ads/ad12539a.cgi/v=2.3S/sz=728x90A|970x66A/'+rnum+'/'+nf+'RETURN-CODE/JS/">'+ts+'/script>'); You can send in your spoiler to other movies by going here. Associated Press articles: Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. Ben says, ok. 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 . Our Brand is Crisis was released across all major streaming and cable platforms on Tuesday, January 19, 2016. Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton go head to head as strategists in a patchy satire about the 2002 Bolivian elections. David Gordon Greens uneven Wag the Dog-style satirical political romp takes both its title and theme from Rachel Boyntons 2005 documentary about the role played by the gun-for-hire American consultants in the 2002 Bolivian elections. ------------------------------------------. The police arrive and the demonstration quickly turns into a riot. The message I got from this movie was very positive. Copyright 2023 Salon.com, LLC. Our Brand is Crisis hits a lot of clunky notes and the end is unforgivably cornball, but it's still one of the liveliest political black comedies I've seen in a while. For those who want more detail, I have written a paragraph below containing spoilers. He wants to find triumph in a tale that should be satiric at best and depressing at worst. Honestly, I didnt know what to expect, on a number of levels. And even hes not even that close. Any empathy the audience feels for the nauseous Bodine is likely explained by . Once a political idealist, she increasingly was a strategist for hire outwardly not caring about the actual politics of her boss. It already has. When they get home, his brothers ridicule Eddie for bringing Yankees and trusting them, and for that matter, trusting Castillo. She doesnt think the man should change to fit the narrative but instead the narrative should change to fit the man. The interviewer says she's been known by many names, most notably "Calamity Jane". At first Jane is defensive, claiming that she was just doing her job, but soon her heart is softened as she realizes the mess she helped to make. The interviewer talks about his son. The premise doesn't really show up until the end of the movie. In a Netflix comedy by Katharine McPhees stepdaughter. 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. Another screenshot shows Castillo has 10% to Riveras 39% with 80 days until election day. February 27, 2023. Los Angeles County said all litigation over the crash has now been resolved. The story follows a political strategist who's recruited to help the campaign of a Bolivian presidential. They just decided to be ingratiating and sentimental. 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. They then shoot the head of the Rivera doll Candy had left, and it breaks his window. It received mixed reviews, despite Bullock's performance being largely praised, and was a box office disappointment. When Jane leaves the meeting with LeBlanc, she instead instructs her to dig up dirt on Castillo, their own candidate. 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. The real meat of the comedy, and drama, comes in the ingenious dirty tricks that Candy and Bodine play on each other, which could kick off a primer on the political practice recently known as rat-f**king (although that phrase is never uttered in the film). All the stupid tricks are here, the ones people laugh at onscreen in the context of a film like this but fall for in spite of themselves on their TVs during football games. Our Brand Is Crisis review - dirty political dealings in South America. Filmcast "Our Brand is Crisis" November 6, 2015 Laura Seaman Features , Filmcast , Movies [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Join Laura Seaman as she reviews " Our Brand is Crisis " and previews " Spectre " and " The Peanuts Movie " on this week's episode of Filmcast. Unfortunately, the quote is actually from Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's minister of propaganda. Verdict. Answer, Does HIGH MORAL CHARACTER matter in political leaders? Their main tactic is to emphasize the many problems of the economy and present . Both Bullock and Thornton portray Carvillesque characters (and the bald Thornton looks the part). All rights reserved. Not all movies preach, for example, action movies are usually more about the entertainment of watching good triumph over evil. Our Brand is Crisis was one of these pleasant surprises. There are very occasional crude sexual references. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) Plot Showing all 5 items Jump to: Summaries (4) Synopsis (1) Summaries A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate. 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. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. 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. Jane meets with Castillo who says shes a liability. Andrew O'Hehir is executive editor of Salon. [4] It was theatrically released by Warner Bros. on October 30, 2015. But once in Bolivia, shes sidelined by acute altitude sickness (the flight down is accompanied by a primer on the geography and general stressed disposition of the place), and hence unable to immediately show her Sun-Tzu-informed genius to uptight candidate Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida). The front-runner, Victor Rivera, is a populist who is appealing to the basest emotions of that poor electorate. Please share it with your friends rnum=Math.round(Math.random() * 100000); Like before, it came from La Paz Grassroots, but this time it really did come from Candy. As one of his first actions, he invites the IMF into Bolivia, thereby breaking his promise. [11] More casting was also announced, which included Reynaldo Pacheco, Dominic Flores, Louis Arcella, and Octavio Gmez. 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. Is it money? But as a whole, "Our Brand is Crisis" is a messy affair that sputters along when it should be humming with assured cynical momentum. Ideology? You never find out. Our Brand Is Crisis still could have been an excellent tale, but told through a soft prism of second chances and good intentions, we can't buy what Green is selling. Jane says its just a carousel and she was going around and around. A battle-hardened American political consultant is sent to help re-elect a controversial president in Bolivia, where she must compete with a long-term rival working for another candidate. "[25] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". 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. [9] On October 10, Joaquim de Almeida and Zoe Kazan joined the cast, with Almeida playing Castillo, the former president of Bolivia, and Kazan playing a young woman who finds dirt on political candidates. A bus race ensues around dangerous bends and cliffs. It starts out with big promises and ends up with jackshit happening.". She introduces LeBlanc (Zoe Kazan), a young investigator who is hired to dig up dirt on Rivera. Smoke too much? One woman says he has a weird smile. Boynton traveled to Bolivia to cover the activity of a high-priced U.S. consulting firm, Greenberg Carville, and Shrum, in the 2002 presidential race, and she had amazingfrankly, flabbergastingaccess. Rivera then repeats the quote Jane told Candy. 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. When youre in the movie reviewing ministry, a variety of messages and agendas come and go. The campaign advisors are telling Castillo he needs to meet with the people and be seen as one of the people. [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. Candy is outside the hotel in his chauffeur-driven SUV and offers Jane, Ben, and Nell a ride to the airport. Our Brand is Crisis (2015) (964) 6.1 1 h 47 min 2015 X-Ray R. A Bolivian presidential candidate failing in the polls enlists the firepower of an elite American management team, led by the deeply damaged but still brilliant strategist Jane Bodine. The news that Jane will be pitted against political consultant Pat Candy, with whom she has a past, is enough to get her away from the wheel. Inspired by the 2005 documentary of the . This is a competent film that shows how foxy political campaigns can be. A llama is shown getting hit by a car. Its educational and leaves you with serious thoughts about political power. Calamity Jane (Sandra Bullock), has been lured out of retirement by gobs of money and a challenge: Can she convince the Bolivian people to elect as president an unpopular, arrogant, cigar-chomping oligarch named Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida)who was already president once and bungled the job? (R. 107 minutes.) The protagonist, Jane Bodine a.k.a. So yes, throughout the film, the protagoniststhe ones portrayed as good guysuse communistic propaganda. She finally just decided to get off the carousel. He resides in Atlanta with his wife and their dog Jack. Read full review SEE ALL 35 REVIEWS User Score Write a Review 6.4 Positive: 23 Mick LaSalle is the film critic for the San . Jane and her team had no idea he would do that. The reality of U.S. politics is dominated not so much by incompetent leaders as mortals who lack the requisite superpowers needed to steer the ship of state. A screenshot shows Castillo at 8% with Rivera leading with 36%. Despite Sandra Bullocks strong lead performance, David Gordon Greens film cant push a hopeful tone past its depressing reality. The study of crisis management originated with large-scale industrial and environmental disasters in the 1980s. The deception disgusts her. [23], Eric Kohn from Indiewire wrote that the movie is all about Bullock's performance, saying "she imbues her part with a ferocious energy that constantly elevates the straightforward material". Jane is a broken prizefighter who has been called into the ring for one last round. [3], The film opened on October 30, 2015, alongside Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Though not without its entertaining momentsthe cast, led by Sandra Bullock, is energetic, sharp and gets a fair number of juicy bits to rock out with. Principal photography began on September 29, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Sandra Bullock (who shares producer credits with, among others, George Clooney and Grant Heslov) is the reclusive political strategist Calamity Jane Bodine, who turned her back on her profession after one dirty trick too many. In my review of the documentary, I wrote: The process of framing Goni to look like something he isnt could be the stuff of a rambunctious campaign comedy like Primary Colors or, for that matter, the documentary The War Room And parts of Our Brand Is Crisis are darkly amusing. What makes the campaign more personal for her is that Pat Candy is working for Rivera--their professional and personal history goes all the way back to her first-ever political campaign. It also sets up a Hollywood ending that all but wrecks the movie. To handle this scandal, Castillo is interviewed on TV and explains it was a visit to his son, who IS a member of the cult, and he had to wear the robe. He says the people in the village dont understand that yet. Election day. The rest of the movie is her telling the story of what happened after her resignation. 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. (Vice) President Selina Meyers (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has a stable of advisers including Dan Egan (Reid Scott) and Jonah Ryan (Timothy Simons) who have internalized and aspire to the Carville cult; its just that reality interrupts to remind them that things dont work like that. Candy tells her he knows it was Jane who planted the fliers of Castillos infidelity in order to force Castillo to run a negative campaign. Jane insist they go negative in spite of this, but Castillo says no. Did Cirie go too far by bringing family matters into the game? She describes the Daisy advertisement, which ran exactly once, that turned the election for Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater. Bodine and her crew join Candy on the way to the airport. "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. Have they learned nothing? His slickness fits the milieu. The interviewer says shes been known by many names, most notably Calamity Jane. : What The Hell Happened? When it does, Jane moons the Rivera bus. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Ben jumps out and yells, get in the car, what are you doing? She pulls from her bag the pottery bowl that Ben was admiring in the first scene, and hands it to him before climbing out of the car. Beyond needing to adjust to her relocation to La Paz however temporary, Jane knows that she has to transform the thinking of the populace to making them want Castillo as their leader as opposed to changing Castillo to something he inherently is not. Somebody on the Castillo bus says Jane has a great ass! (And she does. We root for Jane to win and feel guilty for caring more about the game than the country. While Rivera is still speaking aboard a train, Jane poses as a worker for the Rivera campaign and tells the conductor the speech is over. SALON is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Covering Rammsteins Du Hast in Berlin. Director David Gordon Green Writers Rachel Boynton (suggested by the documentary) Peter Straughan (screenplay) Stars Sandra Bullock Eddie is delivering a framed photograph to now President-Elect Castillos Senate offices. This movie offers us the tale of the fall and redemption of an unscrupulous white lady -- who we know cannot really be unscrupulous since shes Sandra Bullock. Our Brand Is Crisis (2015) Rated R for language including some sexual references. 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