Sandra Bullock has revealed that she did not have a stunt butt double for a mooning scene in her new movie, Our Brand Is Crisis. He and editor Colin Patton, who have worked together for several years, give the story a somewhat off-kilter pace; even though there are too many montages for comfort, the film feels as though something important might be about to happen in sequences that are otherwise inconsequential. And it’s snappy, smart, and entertaining enough to suggest a smarter route for narrative filmmakers attempting the same translation. So when this film came along, I was having an internal discussion with myself about who in our country would step outside of our comfort zone for the general good? In fact, this viewer presumed Thornton was resuming the role of Carville avatar, only to discover that such 1:1 configurations are nowhere to be found in Green’s film.
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The cynical whiff of the movie quickly becomes overwhelmingly noxious, relieved only by the well-telegraphed narrative turns crafted by the screenplay, credited to Peter Straughan.
She’s reluctant to emerge from retirement until she’s informed by manipulative consultants played by Anthony Mackie and Ann Dowd that her former mentor and longtime nemesis, Pat Candy, an American consultant played by Billy Bob Thornton, is managing the campaign of Castillo’s opponent, the charismatic, poll-topping frontrunner. Jane announces her arrival in Bolivia by falling down the plane stairs (the altitude is killer), throwing up in a trash can (ditto), and telling Nell, after her first meeting with the candidate, “He’s not a victor”.
That moment, when the switch flips and the pilot light comes on, is when the movie comes alive – as does Bullock’s performance, which is a monster. See her in this one, in which everything is nearly going wrong, but it never quite does.
Bullock plays Jane Bodine, a former campaign strategist whose reckless tactics and fondness for surprise ambush attacks earned her the nickname “Calamity Jane”, until the bottom dropped out and she began butchering operations left and right while in the throes of depression and cocktails. Thornton, reveling in the freedom to be totally unlikable, sharpens up when he goes toe to toe with her, laying on the charm and sleaze in equal proportion, poking and prodding at her (and not flinching when she pokes and prods back), pushing the self-loathing attraction at the heart of many such rivalries.
The doc explored American political consultants hired in 2002 to advise a Bolivian presidential campaign (admit it, you’re already passing out), and the infinitely dry approach established a massive remove from the ensuing violent anti-government riots. Their brand will be crisis, she says, the idea that Bolivians are on the brink and the only man who can rescue them is the face-punching Castillo. “They’d developed this for a long time and they could have been very precious”.
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Set in Bolivia, “Our Brand is Crisis” was inspired by a 2005 documentary of the same title. It is advertising when you really get down to it. That is what’s heartbreaking when you realise, ‘Wow I have been advertised to rather than let me decide who the best candidate is.
