Our Brand is Crisis by Rachel Boynton

Yesterday on campus I had the opportunity to see the documentary Our Brand is Crisis and talk to the director, Rachel Boynton. The timing was perfect, because it was exactly when I teach U.S.-Latin American Relations, so I just had my entire class go. It was a great movie—anyone interested in Latin American politics would find it fascinating. It follows the 2002 presidential campaign of Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (known as Goni) in Bolivia, and specifically how he used the same James Carville team of consultants that became famous from the Clinton years.

It is a very balanced movie, which lets everyone speak for themselves, but the theme was to question whether it is feasible to bring the U.S.-style of politics to a very poor, politically unstable country. In fact, the consultants did get Goni the victory, but he was forced out soon thereafter, as massive protests would pave the way for Evo Morales to be elected. Anyhow, there was a good Q&A with Rachel Boynton after the screening—she said that when she conceived of the movie, she wondered how to get access to everyone, and a friend recommended just printing up business cards. She did so, which made her look official, and started getting green lights. Not a bad research tip.

Anyone who reads this blog knows I talk a lot about how U.S. actions and words in Latin America (though elsewhere too) often end up having the opposite effect than intended. The movie had a perfect example, from the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia. At one point, the U.S. said that Evo Morales claimed that the U.S. government was trying to kill him. The ambassador reacted by reading a statement, which had the following logic (and I am not making this up).

1. Evo Morales thinks the U.S. wants to assassinate him
2. The only person the U.S. wants to assassinate is Osama bin Laden
3. Evo Morales is thus equating himself with bin Laden
4. Therefore Evo Morales is just like bin Laden

Apparently that statement alone boosted Evo’s numbers, and he said that he hoped the ambassador would keep saying such things.