Comedy-Drama Film 'Our Brand is Crisis' Reveals Dirty Politics in South America

The new movie of Sandra Bullock entitled "Our Brand is Crisis," has caught the attention of many, since the story presents dirty politics in South America.

The Guardian said the movie took its title and theme from the 2005 documentary of Rachel Boynton. It exposes the stories of gun-for-hire American consultants for the Bolivian elections in 2002.

It noted that Bullock plays the main role of "Calamity" Jane Bodine, the political strategist who gives up on her profession to recover from a recent nervous breakdown, and then decides to hide in the woods.

A similar Bristol Post report added that campaign consultants, played by Anthony Mackie and Ann Down, decide to visit Bodine and try to get her to return to work.

She was suggested to make her magic work on re-electionist president Pedro Castillo, who was an unpopular candidate and had been trailing in the poll surveys.

According to Metacritic, Bodine is encouraged to go back to her job in an aim to beat his nemesis Pat Candy, played by Billy Bob Thornton, who is heading the campaign of opposition candidate Victor Rivera.

However, it claimed that during the campaign period, Candy was able to make good use of Bodine's vulnerability and the personal crisis she was currently facing.

A Rogert Ebert report said both political strategists played dirty tricks against each other, but Bullock still ended up catapulting her candidate to victory.

In a review of the movie, Independent underscored that the dirty tricks of Bodine and Candy went beyond the political beliefs of the presidential candidates they represented. It added that the two were also not interested in the future of Bolivia.

"The film captures the mixture of exhilaration, excitement, and despair that the strategists feel as their candidates' positions in the opinion polls rise and fall," added the same report.

It was also highlighted that Bullock was able to perform the comedic aspect of her character well, paired with Thornton's effective "sleazy" portrayal of Candy's role.

However, Independent claimed that Bodine seemed to have used the political crisis in Bolivia as a form of treatment for her personal crisis and to recover from her battles in life.

In another review, Deadline noted that the political film was a way to reminisce old movies like "The Candidate" in 1972 or "Wag The Dog" by Barry Levinson.

On the other hand, the same report said that the movie made the current presidential campaign for the 2016 constitutional referendum look "tame."