Apocalypse in the Tropics, Brazil, documentaries, film festivals, Jair Bolsonaro, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, movies, New York Film Festival, Petra Costa, reviews, Silas Malafaia Filho, Telluride Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival
October 17, 2024
by Carla Hay
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” (2024)
Directed by Petra Costa
Portuguese with subtitles
Culture Representation: The documentary film “Apocalypse in the Tropics” features Brazilian people talking about evangelicalism and politics in Brazil in the 21st century.
Culture Clash: Right-wing political leaders have increased their use of evangelical leaders and religious preachings to further their political causes, while left-wing political leaders fight to keep the church and state separate.
Culture Audience: “Apocalypse in the Tropics” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in 21st century Brazilian politics and how these politics are eerily similar to 21st century politics in other countries, such as the United States.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” won’t do much to change political opinions that are on the extreme right or extreme left. However, it’s an insightful documentary about how evangelicalism has affected Brazilian politics in the 21st century. “Apocalypse in the Tropics” had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice International Film Festival. It then made the rounds at other film festivals in 2024, including the Telluride Film Festival and the New York Film Festival.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” director Petra Costa, who is the documentary’s narrator, admits up front that she has a very secular point of view in believing in the separation of church and state. However, Costa said that in the course of making the documentary, she did extensive research on the blending of evangelicalism and politics to further understand why numerous Brazilian voters believe that religion should play more (not less) of a role in governmental policies.
Costa was nominated for Best Documentary Feature for directing 2018’s “The Edge of Democracy,” which chronicled the rise and fall of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the impeachment of his successor, President Dilma Rousseff in 2014. “Apocalypse in the Tropics” is a sequel of sorts to “The Edge of Democracy,” because it chronicles the rise of Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing politician who was elected president of Brazil in 2018. Bolsonaro was then was voted out and replaced by President Lula in 2022.
Brazil has often been compared to the United States in how both countries seem to be on parallel tracks in political history in the 2010s and 2020s. Bolsonaro’s rise in politics used similar tactics used by Donald Trump, whose core base consists of many who live in rural areas and are working-class or poor and those who live in more urban areas who are wealthy. Middle-class people who support Bolsonaro tend to be frustrated by the changes happening in the nation, where immigrants, non-Christians, non-heterosexuals and political liberals are often blamed for any decline.
And just like Trump, Bolsonaro was voted out of office and replaced by a veteran politician whose politics have been liberal, but Bolsonaro and his most ardent supporters have not conceded defeat. Just like in the United States, this political divisiveness has erupted in violence on the nation’s Capitol building. It happened in the U.S. on January 6, 2021. It happened in Brazil on January 8, 2023.
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” features interviews with several politicians and regular Brazilian citizens on both sides of the political spectrum. Pastor Silas Malafaia Filho, a powerful and influential support of Bolsonaro, also gets a lot of screen time. What they all have to say is almost identical to the concerns of people on the opposite sides of the political spectrum in the United States.
Costa’s voiceover narration is measured and calm, but the words in her narration (which she co-wrote with Alessandra Orofino, David Barker, Nels Bangerter and Tina Baz) have an unmistakable tone of sounding an alarm. Unlike a political documentarian such as Michael Moore, Costa does not make herself the star of her documentaries and is only seen on screen intermittently when she is interviewing people. However, her interviews tend to be a bit on the tame side and offer no groundbreaking revelations. The most insightful aspects of Costa’s documentary filmmaking are cinéma vérité, when the camera just shows how people really act and what they say when they let their guards down.
Overall, “Apocalypse in the Tropics” has solid direction and focused editing in chronicle the story presented in the movie. The documentary’s cinematography is above-average. The most impactful footage in “Apocalypse in the Tropics” is shown in the last 20 minutes. It’s a significant reminder that far-way countries that could be considered “foreign” from each other can actually be a lot more alike than many of their citizens would like to admit.