Apocalypse in the Tropics (12A)
Directed by Petra Costa
★★★★

WHEN does a democracy end and a theocracy begin? That is the question at the heart of Petra Costa’s powerful and hard-hitting documentary which investigates the rise of the Evangelical church in Brazil, and its leaders growing involvement in the country’s political decisions and the election of its president.

In the last 40 years Evangelicals have grown from 5 per cent to 30 per cent of Brazil’s population, and so are a force to contend with at the ballot box. An ordinary woman states: “What really influences my vote is religion.” Brazil has followed the US’s example by embracing evangelism and staging its own breakfast prayer meetings. 

Costa was given exclusive access to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, former president Jair Bolsonaro and the famous televangelist Silas Malafaia, who did not mince his words over his religious and political beliefs, his support of Bolsonaro and his distaste for the left. 

In a telling encounter with Bolsonaro, who he has known for 11 years, he reveals how he officiated at Bolsonaro’s wedding, and on that day Bolsonaro told him he was going to run for president. Malafaia has been with him every step of the way. 

In another scene Malafaia goes on the defensive about his private plane stating it cost $1.4 million and not $12m as the press claimed “and now it’s worth $800,000 because aeroplanes lose value.”

Bolsonaro also promised to appoint an Evangelical judge to the Supreme Court, which he delivered. 

Costa’s narration is slow and measured, sounding haunting and poetic at times, and in stark contrast to the unbelievable admissions by Malafaia and Bolsonaro and other Evangelists. Bolsonaro asking the nation to fast and pray to God for his intervention against Covid instead of providing medical care is astounding. Over 700,000 people died from Covid in Brazil, making it the second-highest death toll in the world. 

Costa also features Bolsonaro’s election win in 2018 and then his loss in 2022 in which he refused to concede defeat. Prior to it he claimed election fraud echoing Donald Trump. On January 8 2023 pro-Bolsonaro protestors stormed the National Congress, the Three Powers Palace and the Supreme Court, in a bid to overthrow the newly elected administration. 

Costa’s in-depth and thought-provoking documentary shows how precarious democracy is in Brazil, and hanging by a thread, as it holds up a mirror to other democracies.

Limited cinema release on July 11 and available on Netflix from July 14.