science

Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film)

Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) rather than just read about it. In short: Our Brand Is Crisis is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Peter Straughan, and produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. It is based on the 2005 documentary film of the same name by Rachel Boynton.

Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) — illustration

Key takeaways

Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Our Brand Is Crisis is a 2015 American comedy-drama film directed by David Gordon Green, written by Peter Straughan, and produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov. It is based on the 2005 documentary film of the same name by Rachel Boynton. The film gives a fictionalized account of the involvement of American political campaign strategists Greenberg Carville Shrum (GCS) in the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. The film stars Sandra Bullock, Scoot McNairy, Billy Bob Thornton, Anthony Mackie, Ann Dowd and Joaquim de Almeida. Principal photography began on September 29, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The film was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. It was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 30, 2015. It received mixed reviews, despite Bullock's performance being largely praised, and was a box office disappointment.

Plot In 2002, Bolivian politician Pedro Castillo hires an American political consulting firm (based on James Carville's Greenberg Carville Shrum firm) to help him win the 2002 Bolivian presidential election. The firm brings in "Calamity" Jane Bodine to manage Castillo's fledging campaign. The opposition's top political consultant is Jane's nemesis, fellow American Pat Candy. In Bolivia, the situation is tense: Bodine learns that the indigenous people, who are a majority in the country but lack any real political power, are protesting for constitutional reform to get proper representation. The American consultants, not knowing the Bolivian language or culture, are persuaded by Bodine, a burned out veteran of American politics, to follow a strategy of smear campaigning to make up for their candidate's shortcomings. However, Castillo refuses to give permission for the team to do so. It is only after Bodine arranges for the distribution of a flyer accusing Castillo of a long-ago affair (and blaming it on the opposition) does she finally convince him to smear his opponents. In the following months, the team exercises a strategy of "declaring a crisis". They plan to frighten the people, with the aim of persuading them to vote for the unsympathetic but known Castillo rather than the younger opposition candidates. They even resort to publishing photos of their enemy with Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie in the background, so that he has to deny being a Nazi. Castillo's bus is stopped by a group of protesters who do not want the International Monetary Fund in Bolivia. Castillo promises them that he will not invite the IMF without a public referendum. Eduardo, a young volunteer of the Castillo campaign, is deeply impressed by this show of commitment. Eduardo's loyalty comes mostly from the fact that Castillo, who was president at the time, took a young Eduardo on his arm during a rally in his town. Nevertheless, his brothers are much more skeptical of Castillo. During the final debate, Bodine cites a quote in a conversation with Candy (knowing that he will give it to rival candidate Rivera for his speech) saying that "a great man" said it. Unfortunately, the quote is actually from Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's minister of propaganda. Castillo wins the vote by a small margin. As one of his first actions, he invites the IMF into Bolivia, thereby breaking his promise. The deeply disappointed Eduardo visits Bodine in her hotel; she replies that she is not responsible for Castillo's actions. In her eyes, her job is done. The disillusioned Eduardo joins his brothers at a demonstration of people demanding change. The police arrive and the demonstration quickly turns into a riot. Bodine and her crew join Candy on the way to the airport. All of them, except Bodine, have already taken jobs as political consultants in other countries. When she realizes that she brought a liar into office, she has the car stopped and leaves to join Eduardo and the protestors.

Cast

Production On April 22, 2007, it was announced that George Clooney would produce a dramatization of the 2005 documentary Our Brand Is Crisis, along with Grant Heslov, and Warner Bros. would handle American distribution rights. Peter Straughan was set to write the script, with Clooney attached as a potential director and star for the film, about the 2002 Bolivian presidential election's campaign by James Carville's Washington, D.C.–based political consulting firm Greenberg Carville Shrum, which was hired by candidate Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada. On December 11, 2013, Sandra Bullock was in early talks to star in the film, while Clooney chose not to direct, and his starring in the film was also unconfirmed at that time. On August 21, 2014, Bullock's casting was confirmed, playing a retired political consultant called 'Calamity' Jane Bodine, and David Gordon Green was set to direct the film. On September 11, Scoot McNairy was added to the cast. On September 15, Billy Bob Thornton joined the film, and on September 18, Anthony Mackie joined the cast. On September 24, Ann Dowd joined the film. On October 10, Joaquim de Almeida and Zoe Kazan joined the cast, with Almeida playing Castillo, the former president of Bolivia, and Kazan playing a young woman who finds dirt on political candidates. On October 13, 2014, Participant Media announced that they would co-finance the film with Warner, while Jeffrey Skoll and Jonathan King would executive produce, along with Bullock and Stuart M. Besser. More casting was also announced, which included Reynaldo Pacheco, Dominic Flores, Louis Arcella, and Octavio Gómez. Principal photography on the film began on September 29, 2014, in New Orleans, Louisiana, using 35mm film. Filming also took place in the Bonnet Carré Spillway in Norco in St. Charles Parish. Additional filming occurred in Puerto Rico and Bolivia.

Release In July 2015, Warner Bros. Pictures scheduled the film for an October 30, 2015, release, during the awards season. It had a wide release in 2,202 theaters for 21 days.

Home media The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 2, 2016.

Reception

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film)

In research: Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s political comedy-drama films, 2010s political satire films, 2015 American films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) in simple terms?

Why does Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Our Brand Is Crisis (2015 film).