James Carville, Jeremy Rosner, Gonzalo
Sanchez de Lozada, Tad Devine
Producer
:
Rachel Boynton
Director
:
Rachel Boynton
Genre
:
Documentary, Political
Duration
:
85 Mins
An adventure following James Carville
and a team of U.S. political consultants as they
travel to South America to help Gonzalo Sanchez
de Lozada (a.k.a. 'Goni')
become President of Bolivia. Goni, is seen by his
American strategists as a progressive idealist trying
to liberalize business practices and strengthen
democracy. However to many Bolivians, he is a Clintonesque
neo-liberal allied too closely with the U.S. With
little chance of re-election Starting with a country
in upheaval, we see bloody riots break out in the
streets of La Paz, with people throwing stones at
the presidential palace as they call for the government's
downfall. Flashing back a year, we begin to see
the events that led to the bloody tragedy. Goni
is on the campaign trail, promising to solve Bolivia's
devastating economic crisis if he is elected. Behind
the scenes are Jeremy Rosner, Tad Devine, and others
from the Greenberg Carville Shrum firm, the American
advertising experts hired to sell Goni to the people.
With unprecedented access to situations that occur
all the time in the United States, but which we're
never allowed to see, the chronicle follows detailed
media coaching with the candidate, secret focus
groups, and emergency ad-making sessions that alter
the message to fit the moment. Following the journey
to its surprising finish, it is a story for our
time about Americans trying to spread democracy
overseas.
