Election fever

Film review: Our Brand is Crisis

MANILA, Philippines - Based on the 2005 documentary of the same name, the Warner film Our Brand is Crisis is now a fictionalized account of US political strategists being brought in as “guns for hire” for the Bolivian presidential elections of 2002.

If in the documentary, events were centered on the consulting firm of James Carville coming in and making a mess of things, here we are treated to two rival consultants — Jane Bodine (Sandra Bullock) and Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton) backing their respective candidates and showing us how battles won can mean the war is lost. For much of the film, the maneuvering that goes on as candidates are turned into commodities and products make for a fascinating study of how elections are exercises in perception, personalities and popularity more than issues and the people. Especially fascinating, given how we are in an election year ourselves.

Directed by David Gordon Green, who can list Pineapple Express and Prince Avalanche, among his credits, his deft comedic touch is evident in much of the film and serves its purpose in providing lighter moments of irony and deadpan humor. Whether stressing the language communication problems, the merits of running a negative campaign, or utilizing the notion of Crisis to dictate the narrative of the campaign period, Bodine and Candy play a high-stakes game of one-upmanship all in the name of election victory. And the film is in its element when it showcases all this for three-fourths of the film, marred only by scenarios that while light and audience-appealing — such as the clash of buses on a mountain road — strain credulity.

Bullock pretty much carries the film as its moral (or immoral) compass and she excels in this role, bringing a galvanizing presence to the proceedings that move at a quick pace. Thornton is at his prickly best; throwing asides and “bon mots” with abandon. As Bodine’s client, Pedro Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida) provides a wonderful arc from stiff and unpleasant candidate to one malleable enough to unerringly charm and surprise. That a leopard can never really change its spots is the tough lesson such political strategists learn the hard way, and it is instructional that the film does not capitulate on this potent lesson.

If there is a weakness to the film, I would have to say the film’s coda seems to work more like a tribute by producer George Clooney to the human rights work his lawyer wife Amal Alamuddin is known for, than the credible personal odyssey of a political strategist. Until that point, the film was a real treat and should be watched for the sobering lessons it has to offer about the nature of elections. One can inevitably draw parallels with what is transpiring right now in our own political landscape.