brendan-821-654855 I am an avid documentary watcher, and I had heard good things about this movie, so I went into it expecting something far greater than what was actually delivered.Ironically that made this movie much like the political campaign it explored - a lot of hype, but very little substance.There are some technical issues with this documentary (like the very obvious use of ADR questions), but ultimately it falls down because of the fact that it presents a premise that really doesn't have a lot of merit.Effectively this film tries to blame the US political marketing firm for the violence and unrest that followed after their candidate won the Bolivian election.I'm not from the US, and I'm no fan of political spin doctors, but at the end of the day, it's quite absurd to try and blame the campaign strategists for the leadership failings of the man who they were paid to see elected into office.At the end of the day this documentary completely fails to explore the fact that the other two candidates in this election almost certainly had their own campaign advisers proposing similar PR strategies to give them the edge on the campaign trail.In the end this documentary felt a little unbalanced, and a little bit pointless, in the sense that it didn't really offer much in the way of deep insight into the election in which this campaign unfolded.

smax21 I think it's a universally known fact that many Americans actually don't know a lot about other nations and cultures. For me, I thought the focus was more about how clueless the Americans were trying to run this campaign for a country they knew little about and seemed to simply do what they could to get Goni in office then fail to help follow through with the promises they made. I blame the Americans for Goni achieving the presidency and then his demise for never coming through. I do believe without the Americans Goni would not have won and therefore the issued that followed would not have happened.I felt the film showed the power the people hold in Bolivia and how significant their opinions are as well as their ability to be heard.I suppose each person will see this film in their own way, but if you don't know a lot about Bolivia or the recent politics, this is a good film to watch to learn about the recent presidential topics.

Susan Jackson I have rewatched Our Brand Is Crisis and am changing my review. The documentary film provides amazing access to a group of people (mostly Amercians) trying to change the outcome of a presidential election in Bolivia through instrumental and deceptive methods. Unfolding in a true three-act structure, the film leaves you wondering up until the end who will win. However, the essence of the film transcends the outcome of the election and shows how neocons utilize ideology and personal interests that connect to the interests of the United States. The film is clear, despite the director's naive comments about "knowing people who have money in order to make a film." My previous review criticized the filmmaker for her outrageous and incorrect comments that reveal her worldview just as the film reveals the worldview of the subjects in the film. Overall, the film contains excellent scenes that that slowly build into a true narrative.

jotix100 How to remake the image of a once unpopular president, who is now a candidate and how to market him and sell him to voters, is the basis of this excellent documentary. Rachel Boynton chronicles in vivid detail about the experience in this wonderful documentary.The idea of importing a team of American image consultants that have been notorious in the United States for their work in helping elect president Bill Clinton, not once, but twice, seems to be a novel idea for politics in South America. How will this team, headed by James Carville fare in helping to elect Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a man who was an unpopular president in that country, seems to have made some sense to this candidate for his successful bid for a second term. After all, Mr. Sanchez de Lozada governed the country from 1993 to 1997, so why try to have the campaign run by Mr. Carville and his gang of experts?Ms. Boynton takes us, the viewers behind the scenes to meetings that one would imagine would have been closed to her camera crew. We see people like Jeremy Rossner and the advertising pundit Tad Devine shooting ideas about how to present the candidate for a possible victory. American style campaign tactics seem to be the selling point to the candidate and his team. After all, the stakes are high and the man running for office doesn't want to take any chances. There are a lot of candid moments in the film which seem to indicate the director got a free hand about what to capture in film.Rachel Boynton shows a knack for capturing all the insanity of the situation and the people preparing a man to be accepted by his people with an American team behind him.