“Continuing the unintended theme of movies that showcase jobs I don’t want, we have Our Brand is Crisis, in which Sandra Bullock plays a political advisor brought out of retirement to help a candidate win the presidency of Bolivia. Yeah, don’t care too much for politics, and the idea of marketing myself the way that politicians are required to fills me with so much dread. I campaigned for student council in high school once, and that took a heck of a lot out of me. Not an experience I’m looking to replicate, nor one I feel like going into now.
The biggest conversation topic around this film was the fact that Bullock’s character was originally written as a male role. But when decrying the state of women in cinema, and the lack of decent roles being offered, with friend George Clooney, he decided to take this film he was producing (and circling for a role) and switch the gender of the lead. I cannot say how happy this makes me, and I certainly hope that it’s something Hollywood becomes more open to.
So of course, throughout the film, I kept picturing how it would be different with even more testosterone. Well besides the fact that the fairer sex would be drastically underrepresented, I feel like the story was more interesting this way. It created an interesting power dynamic with Bullock bossing around the man who would be prez. And of course she kicked butt at the role. Bullock is one of the best actresses of our generation, and while it’s sad that even she struggles to find roles that are worth of her (or at the very least respectful of her), I’m grateful that she fought her way into this one. And I hope that many more follow her.
Anyways, I thought the film gave an interesting look into a world I don’t know too much about. Okay so I’ve seen things like The Manchurian Candidate and Ides of March or The West Wing, so those have given some insight into the process. However, this time the focus was more on the strategy and the PR. That was fun and educational, but still, don’t wanna do it.
Our Brand is Crisis – \m/ \m/ \m/”