The Edge of Democracy

Documentary extremely important to our perception of democracy and how it has been elitist and oligarchic in Brazil. The Documentary presents facts, and makes us realize how recent history unfortunately tends to follow and perpetuate the old models. It causes reflection on the importance of democratic acts, on the construction of self-opinions, and on how we are still vulnerable to being induced by the medium and a numerically small but great perceive of privileges. My sincerest congratulations to the entire production.

Watching this makes me really worried. The power play in Brazil is a sample of what's going on all over the world with the ignorant bullies who have taken over with their nationalist facade cause. Must watch!

This passionately angry doc (with incredible access) proves that partisan politics is a human thing, NOT just a USA thing...and I can't decide if that's a relieving or disheartening.

Petra Costa is perhaps the best documentary director in Brazil. Her debut is the masterpiece Elena, a very personal look to her sister. The Edge of the Democracy, her third feature, is another kind a monster. A political one, to be exat, in which she narrates the oddly "democratic" impeachment of president Dilma Roussef.

Costa's talent is to make simple footage (either from stock and original shots) into sheer cinematic strenght. A rare gift, I might add.

Skilfully merging the political with the personal, The Edge of Democracy provides an interesting insight into the 2014 socio-political crisis which ripped Brazil apart, and paved way for a situation where the country can now slide back into the very oppressive system it fought so hard and for so long to overcome.

Co-written, co-produced & directed by Petra Costa, the documentary establishes her political leanings early on by offering some background context that shaped her worldview and then narrates the events that led to her nation's current state by taking us through the rise & fall of two presidencies. But it isn't an impartial take.

When seen from an outside perspective, the documentary serves as a warning for numerous other democracies around the world whose fabric is both threatened & failing, including my own. Costa allows the plot to unfold at an unhurried pace so viewers can take in all the information but it only manages to be riveting in bits n pieces.

Overall, The Edge of Democracy is an extensively researched & brilliantly narrated documentary but it is also diluted by the filmmaker's own political preference and is going to polarise many. Nonetheless, it does rather well as a cautionary tale and paints an unnerving portrait of the future that's in store when the foundations on which a nation functions are ignored.