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Apocalypse in the tropics (Now on Netflix Streaming) is a heavy, severe documentary, the follow-up to the Brazilian director Petra Costa 2019 Must-Verse-Verse Oscar-Nominee The edge of democracy. For the first film, Costa enjoyed breathtaking access to the outgoing Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva and his successor Dilma Rousseff, both left-wing workers' party and saw how the former was imprisoned. With ApocalypseThe filmmaker shows the connection between the outermost right and the Christian fundamentalist movement in Brazil and how the faith of the evangelicals in the end times contributes to the persistent erosion of democracy.

The Gist: Just as fascinating as the content of this film is, like Costa, whose parents were liberal activists in the 1970s, repeated access to Silas Malafaia, a Brazilian television evangelist who is presented in this Doc as one of Bolsonaro's puppet player. Her camera is sitting in his noble house with him at breakfast, follows him to political and religious rallies – which are quite deliberately put together – and captures him behind the wheel of his BMW, scolding a motorcyclist whose unpredictable driving mallafaia interprets as a form of religious persecution. It is far from a flattering representation of Malafaia that represents the rapidly growing fundamentalist Christian movement of Brazil, which is increasingly influential in the country's politics. The group proved to be a turning point for the choice of Bolsonaro for the 2018 presidency, and Malafaia is happy to recognize this. And according to this documentary, it is not wrong.

As she did it The edge of democracyCosta often stays on pictures that are sacred to the Brazilians and tell poetically about Brazil's very weak grip about democracy. The key, she claims, is the pronounced blurring of the church and state, especially in terms of the Protestant population. Her camera studies medieval paintings that represent the events of the book of revelations when Jesus returns to earth and Armageddon begins, with unbelievers being massacred by demons. This is what evangelical beliefs and Petra claims that the undertext of the movement reads: The choice of a chaotic would -be desper such as Bolsonaro will accelerate the arrival of the end time, end the suffering of our current reality and create the sky on earth.

Costa follows the history of the movement for US intervention, regardless of whether the evangelist Billy Graham preached tens of thousands of Brazilians in the 1960s, or the CIA undermined Catholic movements that urged social justice for the poor. It demonstrates the idea of dominionism, which was promoted by Malafaia and stipulates that evangelicals should take over all three branches of the democratic government. It shows how Bolsonaro's reaction to Covid pandemic was not a science, but the prayer that did nothing to prevent hundreds of thousands of Brazilians from succumbing to the virus. She follows Lula da Silva when he is released from prison – the charges with which he was confronted were shaky, more political than legal – and runs against Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election. Your camera is on the street as a nominated campaign, the secularistic lula, which differs to religious voters to receive their support. She observes how the regular choice goes to an outflow that Lula wins, which causes Malafaia and Bolsonaro to contest the election results and to convey an uprising in the capital.

Which films will you remind you of ?:: One of the absolutely best films from 2024 – I'm still hereAn Eunice Paiva Biopic and an exciting dramatization of political persecution during the Junta regime in the 1970s Brazil.

Value value to look at: Well, it's more hearing Costa as you see-torture is as profound as that of Werner Herzog, and her access to key figures in Brazilian politics is almost Miraku. (And yes, I fully grab the irony of this statement.)

Unforgettable dialogue: Costa on Bolsonaro: “When I filmed him for the first time, he was right -wing extremist and ran towards every camera.”

Sex and skin: None.

Our attitude: Apocalypse in the tropics is Costa's logical progressive step afterwards The edge of democracyWhich was just as personal for the emotions and experiences of the filmmaker as the rise of fascist tendencies in Brazil. Of course, the political dispute, which she documents, reflects, perhaps no more than the United States, with Trump's voting denial and uprisings before Brazil two years and the presence of Evangelical thinking in politics during the regime of George W. Bush.

So we get amusing observations – Lula makes his own coffee, while Malafaia is served plenty of firmly – a disturbing story in which Bolsonaros potential use of military violence against their own people is equated with the first steps of a Holy War. Costa complains of the always tedious grip of democracy in her country, and her gaze is steadfast because the camera captures Bolsonaro supporters who pray on the streets on the election night -and Lula supporters who do the same. Whose prayers are answered? Lula's victory was a glimmer of hope, but through Costa's objective it does not feel soothing. The people and their bizarre belief in a fair destruction have not disappeared. The victory for the workers' party may be nothing but Speedbump on the way to the beloved apocalypse of the Protestant. The documentary does not conclude with a celebration, but with a sad review of the destruction in the capital building after attempted uprising. What now?The pictures seem to say. What now?

Our call: Apocalypse in the tropics is an exciting and scary portrait of the crumbling wall between the church and the state, the separation of which is absolutely important for democracy. Stream it.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic in Grand Rapids, Michigan.