Our Brand Is Crisis
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Metascore
69 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 5 Ratings

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  • Summary: For decades, U.S. strategists-for-hire have been quietly molding the opinions of voters and the messages of candidates in elections around the world. They have worked for presidential candidates on every continent. Without the noise of tanks or troops, these Americans have been spreading our brand of democracy from the Middle East to the middle of the South American jungle. This documentary is an astounding look at one of their campaigns and its earth-shattering aftermath. (Koch Lorber Films)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 21
  3. Negative: 1 out of 21
  1. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Ken Fox
    88
    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 into office, regardless of what it will mean for the future of the country and for Bolivian democracy itself.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    80
    Our Brand Is Crisis manages to be remarkably suspenseful.
  3. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: David Edelstein
    60
    It's hard to know whether to marvel or weep when James Carville goes into his Bill Clinton–meets–Looney Tunes act in Rachel Boynton's knockout documentary Our Brand Is Crisis--the context is so morally topsy-turvy.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    38
    Boynton isn't interested in telling a story, only in the atmosphere of political consultancy.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. SoniaC.
    10
    Excellent documentary!
  2. DavidKing
    6
    If you're already cynical about politics and the campaign world, this movie will feed right into your impulses. The Carville team gave a film crew deep access to discussions with "Goni," as the 2002 presidential campaign heated up. Much of the advice is exactly as we teach it: find a message, keep it simple, stick to it, define your adversaries, and so on. Carville's team was coming off of victories in England, Ireland, Israel and Germany... and their formula -- for the most part -- works. But was it best for Bolivia in the long run? The movie falls short in several areas. First, viewers are left with no clear picture of Bolivia as the lovely country that it is. The movie could have been made almost anywhere, but what ultimately "matters" in the movie is the fact that the Carville devices did not match Bolivia's history or needs. Would have been much better if viewers were given a sense for what that history was... Second, the role of the MNR party in Goni's election is entirely missing -- and that fact makes Carville's efforts seem more important than they really were. Third, Evo Morales is portrayed as a frightening populist -- which misses the point that Carville and friends should have noticed. Namely that the greatest deficit in Bolivia is not fiscal but moral -- and that Evo Morales touched the soul of the nation.… Collapse
  3. MikeG.
    5
    I saw this at the Philadelphia Film Festival last weekend and was underwhelmed. The subject matter was certainly very intriguing but the filmmaker couldn't seem to decide whether to center her documentary on Bolivia's problems or on GCS. The result is a sometimes disjointed movie that doesn't do a very good job explaining what, exactly, Bolivia's problems are, who Evo Morales is, or why the United States cares enough to comment on Morales through its ambassador. There are a couple of telling scenes in the film - Gani shaking his head and saying "ours is not to question why, ours is just to do or die" when he's being pulled around by the nose by the consultants - but there aren't enough of these moments. I would like to have known what the Bolivian poltical culture thought of GCS and seen more of a comparative thrust. The movie didn't have this and, as a result, lacked balance.… Expand

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