Rachel Boynton's 2005 documentary, Our Brand is Crisis, seems to pick up the political campaign angle lightyears from where The War Room left off. One of the main players - James Carville (now with his own consulting firm, GCS) - is back, but he's now a household name and working far from his Southern roots. The campaign business has since gone global, as Boynton follows GCS' consulting efforts in the 2002 Bolivian election campaign. While this provides the basis for the documentary, Our Brand is Crisis admirably refuses to stick to a single focus. With high-level access, unexpected historical circumstances, and a freewheeling approach, Boynton memorializes some key elements of 2000s international politics.
At the center of the documentary is Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, - a.k.a. "Goni" - the current Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario candidate receiving GCS' strategies and the centrist former president whose "capitalization" (economic "shock therapy"/liberalization/privitization) plan proved controversial. Raised by an elite exiled Bolivian family in the United States, Goni appears extremely confident in his ability to steer Bolivia toward economic stability, but this self-assuredness frequently manifests itself as arrogance or unwillingness to atone for previous mistakes. In one scene, we see him embracing supporters at a political stop while they pour flower petals on him. After graciously accepting their support, he later complains about how difficult it will be to get the petals out of his suit. The multidimensional depiction of Goni - as an elitist who attempts a populist appeal - is one of the film's chief strengths.