"Our Brand is Crisis" DVD
Directed by Rachel BoyntonBuzzFlash.com's Review (excerpt)
“James Carville goes into his Bill Clinton-meets-Looney Tunes act in Rachel Boynton’s knockout documentary. Darkly amusing. Boynton has extraordinary access – bewildering access, given the damning nature of what she gets.“
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine
Watch the trailer of "Our Brand is Crisis" first.
If you have doubts about the globalization and "neo-liberal" strategy that ties IMF and World Bank policies to "expanding democracy," this is an explosive documentary to view. It's all the more disheartening to see a key Democratic consulting firm on the wrong side of a foreign presidential campaign, this one in Bolivia in 2002. It's not the first time that James Carville's group has backed an international DLC-type against populist challengers.
Carville has become a member of the wealthy, entrenched ruling elite. His tart folksiness is now more a performance than a reflection of his political outlook.
As one of the consulting firm's senior advisors declares in Bolivia,"We must own crisis and we must brand crisis. I think we should make a commitment: We should bet the house on the message."
"As you know, we are a slave to strategy," says the Carville-backed Bolivian presidential candidate in unaccented English. (Ironically, his Spanish is heavily accented by his U.S. upbringing and education.)
The background is that this was the last hurrah for the globalists in Bolivia. The candidate that Carville's firm supported (for a steep fee we are sure) barely beat the indiginous populist, Evo Morales. But it was a pyrrhic victory.
The Carville candidate went on to tax the poor and middle class Bolivians to meet World Bank-IMF demands, instead of increasing the taxes on corporations (sound familiar).
As a result, Bolivia exploded as citizens rose up against the government. Eventually this led to the 2005 election of the current Bolivian President, Evo Morales, who is loathed by the Bush Administration.
What is amazing about this documentary is the access that the young director, Rachel Boynton, had to the advisors from Carville's firm and the candidate that they backed. It is astounding to view the cynical calculation and manipulation practiced by Carville's consulting group, amidst their pious statements that they are supporting democracy, when it is clear that they are supporting a "neo-liberal" economic outlook that goes against the best interests of the majority of citizens in this impoverished nation.
Carville's people claim that they are "exporting democracy" by conducting focus groups and polls and "listening to the people." But they are just doing that to then turn around and manipulate public opinion into support for their candidate. The "research" does not appear to be employed at all to have an impact on the their candidate's policies, which becomes crystal clear in the disastrous aftermath following his "election."
Released as a DVD in 2006.
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http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/844Other Reviews
“James Carville goes into his Bill Clinton-meets-Looney Tunes act in Rachel Boynton’s knockout documentary. Darkly amusing. Boynton has extraordinary access – bewildering access, given the damning nature of what she gets.“
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine
“Absurdly funny, sometimes horrifying! ...Let everyone watch OUR BRAND IS CRISIS!”
– Stuart Klawans,
The Nation
“Momentous! Will pack a punch with even the most informed viewer. The unrestricted access we are given to these discussions that would normally take place behind closed doors is astounding!”
– Laura Kern,
The New York Times
“Hilarious! Would be even funnier if the well-paid American strategists weren’t helping to decide the political fate of an impoverished Third World nation. Boynton’s film ultimately reveals as many disturbing facts about our own backroom political process as it does about Bolivia’s.”
– Joshua Rothkopf,
Time Out New York
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