Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Konterr Brilliant and touching

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

in1984 9 of 10. This documentary has gotten better and more insightful and relevant without changing a thing.I had forgotten about it until the recently released 2015 film by the same name. That film is more of an action/suspense/comedy version that should be enjoyable by everyone regardless of whether they're into the hidden secrets of politics.Besides capturing the actual crisis and disaster that happened in Bolivia with the aid of what amount to marketing and advertising gurus for hire recklessly selling a candidate without regard to who the candidate is or what they are capable of.The elephant in the room, alluded to but never addressed specifically, is that Bolivia is one of those countries targeted by the "war on drugs". The campaigners didn't think to ask why their group was bought and brought in for this particular candidate as opposed to one of the others.Today's brand: Yes Your Country Can be Taken Over by Focus Groups.

Cockeymofo76 The film is based around the 2002 Bolivian Presidential Election and the Gonzalo "Goni" Sanchez de Lozada Campaign.The movie starts by introducing us to "Goni" and his flailing campaign and then quickly brings in GCS, Greenberg Carville Shrum, (yes, the James Carville) is an international political consulting firm. The film starts off kind of awkwardly and there is really nothing special about the first 3rd of the documentary.But the movie quickly kicks into gear about 30 min. in and never pulls up. Rachel Boynton, the director, does a good job of just presenting facts, never bashing the audience in the head with something that can be seen. She asks pretty good, not great, questions of those she interviews and presents people fairly throughout the film. The movie centers on the topic of how can international consulting firms participate in a democracy that isn't their own. The movie shows the personal feelings of the consultants for GCS and the effects GCS has had on Boilivia.That all being said I didn't like the camera angles or the audio. The audio was inconsistent; interviewer's voice was not miked so her questions were almost impossible to hear. The camera, at times, makes you feel not a part of the action.The movie is for anyone who watches the news or would like to consider themselves "well informed." – 8/10

cadmandu This film is a documentary about how a group of American political consultants, led by James Carville, helped elect a president in Bolivia.It is a cliché that colonialism is a natural byproduct of the industrial revolution. The need for export to foreign markets seems to include our political machinations. What else are political consultants going to do in off years? This film is outstanding if only for the fact that the cameras rolled everywhere; we get to see some very private moments with both the consultants and their clients.What is most shocking about this film is how out of touch their candidate is, a fact which seems to phase the consultants not at all. Their advice to him is right on ("You have to act quickly after the election") but the obvious incompetence of their man does not really register with the Americans. Once he's elected, he raises taxes on the poor masses, who have already been protesting in the streets for months, and who then riot, burn buildings, and get massacred by the army. Duh! It's a real Marie Antoinette moment.The only thing I felt was lacking from the film itself is some information on the second candidate (Manfred Reyes) though technically the filmmakers were not responsible for reporting on the other candidats. The third candidate was an obvious sleazeball (advocates the coca trade as a solution to Bolivia's problems) but the middle man was a mystery. Was he really a fascist? Where did his money come from? How sincere was he about anything? We don't really know. I wouldn't trust any of these creeps to watch my 50 cents while I left the room. So if you want a good dose of how disastrous and pathetic Americans are when it comes to foreign countries, this film is a gold mine. In the age of Iraq it's kinda tame, but the principles are the same. It made a big impact on me. I walked around for a few days wondering what it would actually take to turn around a country as messed as Bolivia. I was also annoyed by how dependent Bolivians seem to be, looking to the government as their only solution. It's a different world out there, amigo.

M F Want a reminder of why so many people around the world think Americans are clueless, ignorant and narrow-minded? Go see "Our Brand is Crisis." Rachel Boynton seems shocked that Bolivians use modern campaign techniques: polls, focus groups, etc. Who would have thought, huh? I have news for Boynton: they also have highways, email, television and movie theaters. Yes, I know it must come as a shock to you.The whole tone of the film is so patronizing (poor little people being helped by big-shot Americans) I cringed most of the time. At the movie theater where I saw this film there were many South Americans and once the lights went on, I could see them rolling their eyes and hear their comments: shallow, patronizing, clueless. I could not have agreed more.