Make no mistake; death by a thousand cuts…is still a death…

In select theatres this weekend in Toronto and Vancouver and streaming on Netflix on July 14^th, Apocalypse In The Tropics is a shocking and poignant film that practically unfolds in real time as we see the dismantling of democracy into a theocracy and the corruption of a belief system evolving into a tool for power.

When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? In Apocalypse in the Tropics, director Petra Costa takes us on a decade-long journey through the spiritual and political upheaval of Brazil. What begins as a search for signs of life in a fragile democracy transforms into a deeper inquiry into the seductions of power, prophecy and belief. Costa gains extraordinary access to current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President Jair Bolsonaro and the nation’s magnetic televangelist Silas Malafaia. More than a chronicle of political change, Apocalypse in the Tropics is a cinematic investigation of the fault lines that emerge when religion fuels political ambition.
With the savage clarity that defined her Academy Award–nominated The Edge of Democracy, Costa documents a time of kaleidoscopic confusion and fear with intimate observational filmmaking that braids together the personal, the historic and the mythic. As faith shifts from private refuge to public battleground, Brazil holds a mirror to a world where democracies are being tested by the power of prophecy.

In an obvious continuation of her great work in The Edge of Democracy; Apocalypse In The Tropics crafts an upsettingly smooth look at how fragile democracy can truly be.

As a filmmaker Costa deftly allows us to not only appreciate the larger scale of the story and the picture she is trying to paint for us but it also never loses focus on the more intimate details of this multi-layered social shift that is unfolding before us.

Costa knows the power in keeping the camera on as she finds herself in the middle of a push and pull that is unfolding in such a shockingly public way that it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s real.  If anything in all of this, the main pull away for audiences on all levels has to be the need to pay attention to what is going on around us.

In the global rise of the ideals of the far right this film really does allow us to see how church and state can come together in such a way, that by the time you realize what’s going on, it just might be too late.

In many ways what Apocalypse In The Tropics does is give the culture wars, the class wars and the spiritual wars that are happening in Brazil equal footing with the sage reminder that not only could it all happen there again, but that it could and is happening in places all around the world.

It’s certainly not a happy doc, but it’s not devoid of hope either as It serves as a call in our oversaturated media world to not only pay attention to what’s going on around us, but to never take for granted either.

Apocalypse In The Tropics plays at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema this coming Sat July 12th and Sunday July 13th before streaming globally on Netflix on Jul 14th.