DEMOCRACY NOW
We continue our conversation with Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa about her new Netflix documentary, Apocalypse in the Tropics. The film delves into the explosive growth of evangelical Christianity in Brazil and how it fueled the rise of former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing trial for an alleged coup attempt following his defeat in the 2022 presidential election.
“I really see this film as a parable of our times, where we have leaders that are trying to destroy democracy from within,” says Costa. “Instead of proposing solutions for a world that is in danger and going towards ultimate collapse, they’re actually trying to accelerate that collapse. And that has very much to do with this apocalyptic theology.”
Transcript
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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We’re joined now for Part 2 of our conversation with Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa. Her 2019 film, Edge of Democracy, was nominated for an Academy Award. It traced the rise and fall of democracy in Brazil from 1985 through the first election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, through the years in power of the Brazil’s Workers’ Party until the impeachment of Lula da Silva’s protégée, Dilma Rousseff, in 2017.
In her new documentary, Petra Costa traces the rise of Christian nationalism in Brazil and its power in politics. It’s called Apocalypse in the Tropics. Let’s go to a clip from the film which begins with images of crowds of supporters surrounding former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after he was released from prison. He had been jailed following a corruption conviction that was later annulled. The first voice in the clip is director Petra Costa, followed by a leading evangelical pastor and adviser to former President Bolsonaro, Silas Malafaia.
PETRA COSTA: When he was sent to prison, half the country felt robbed of the chance to vote for their candidate, while the other half felt that he deserved it. Now that he was out, joy and anger had switched sides, and the memory of his two terms as president, where millions were lifted out of poverty, prematurely launched the next presidential race and put him ahead in every poll.
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