Apocalypse in the Tropics

This is a very difficult but very necessary movie, which shows us upfront the destructive foolishness of allowing Christianity to dictate politics, and of enabling dangerous authoritarians to represent people.

Brazil has been - and still is - saddled with multitudes of delinquents with Christian discourse. There is no upside to that obscenity, and we all must strive to get rid of that disease.

The movie is a bit tedious, for sure. So much of what it shows we have painfully watched happens with our own eyes. But perhaps not enough people have the integrity to remember what has happened and how fiercely it must be stopped and corrected.

As "Apocalypse In the Tropics" (2024 release; 119 min) opens, the movie's director, Petra Costa, herself Brazilian, recounts in a voiceover how surprised she was upon returning there in 2016 to fins that Brazil's political landscape was rapidly transforming as a result of the record growth of evangelicals (from 5% to 30% in the last 40 years). Costa decides to look into this phenom and was granted wide access. At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.

Couple of comments: Oscar-nominated documentarian Petra Costa ("The Edge of Democracy") brings another highly-charged political documentary. This time reflecting on how evangelicals have overtaken the hard right, resulting in the astonishing election of Bolsonaro in 2018, and all the things that came after that. If is a fascinating watch. I was vaguely familiar with much of this, but to see it laid out as precise and clear as Costa does here, it all pits it into a new perspective. Also this: Bolsonaro copies pretty much every move by Trump, with a two year delay. Absolutely amazing. Please note that Brad Pitt is one of the movie's Executive Producers.

"Apocalypse in the Tropics" premiered at the Venice Film Festival in August, 2024, to immediate and universal critical acclaim. It is now streaming on Netflix, where I caught it just the other night. The documentary is currently rated 92% Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and for good reason. If you are interested in geopolitics, or in the ever-growing influence of evangelicals, in this case in Brazil, over the political scene, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

As a documentary that explores deep religious-political issues, it's no wonder that there will be (and there are already) lots of negative comments about it. However, Brazil (like many other countries) has been split open in two halves of the political spectrum for quite some time now. But what we see in this film (and in Petra's previous one) is that, in Brazilian history, it was always the right wing that resourced to violence to force their ideals. When open violence was no longer an attractive tool, they turned to religion, offering easy, messianic tools to promise solutions to a struggling people often failed by democratic institutions. The poorly educated masses of Brazil are easy prey to evangelical-politician hawks who, deep within, care a lot about their pockets but nothing at all about their flock.

Brazil was never meant to be a country built for itself and its people, and we can see the results now.

From beginning to end, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. This documentary brought back memories of the terror Brazil experienced for four years under the previous administration and how we cannot allow that to happen again. It's easy to understand and the narrative is very easy to understand. Petra did a job that many will say is fabricated, but it's the naked truth that needs to be shown to the world, but mainly to show how capable Brazil is of evolving and achieving justice, and that no other country should blackmail an entire nation. Assista e aproveite a história sendo contada.

"Apocalypse in the Tropics" is a powerful and timely documentary that bravely explores the alarming rise of religious fundamentalism within the political sphere - a phenomenon with deep and troubling implications for democracies around the world, especially in countries like Brazil. With her signature sensitivity and courage, Petra Costa delivers a work that is both urgent and poetic, peeling back layers of ideology to reveal how faith, when co-opted by power, can erode institutions and threaten civil liberties. This film is not just a warning - it's a vital act of resistance. Petra once again proves why she is one of the most essential voices in contemporary documentary cinema.