Apocalypse in the Tropics
Feature length film Completed 2024
Director
Petra Costa
Producer
Alessandra Orofino
Doc Society helped with
Development
As the daughter of parents who dedicated their lives to the fight against Brazil's dictatorship, filmmaker Petra Costa has always thought of democracy as her birthright, and explored that relationship in her films by fusing the personal and the political. “Apocalypse in the Tropics” is a continuation of that life-long interest. In it, Petra follows Brazil’s biggest televangelist, Silas Malafaia - watching as he becomes president Jair Bolsonaro’s main political advisor, and continuing through the attempted coup on January 8, 2023. What she discovers is a disturbing relationship between a fast-growing fundamentalist religious movement and the nationalist far right. The film combines direct cinema with essay cinema to explore the history and future of that relationship, Petra’s personal experience of it, and its dangerous appeal in these times. It is a particularly Brazilian story, but also a cautionary tale for the entire democratic world.
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Crew
This approach, combined with [Petra Costa's] vague and poetic monologue, turns democracy into a story of powerful men versus powerful men, and not one belonging to the people she claims to care so much about.
indieWire
Aug. 29, 2024
What makes Tropics so riveting is the way Costa constantly shifts between the epic and the intimate, the macro and the micro.
The Hollywood Reporter
Aug. 29, 2024
Given a distinct personal edge by Costa’s own measured commentary, this is an important study that is bound to attract politically curious audiences.
Screen International
Aug. 29, 2024
“Apocalypse in the Tropics” gives us everything we need to avoid the real apocalypse that power-hungry religious ideologies are looking to drive us towards; now it’s on us to put in the work to ensure we don’t get to that point.
Next Best Picture
Oct. 3, 2024
Beyond its obvious ups and downs, it is a documentary with a lot of valuable and revealing material.
Otroscines.com
Sept. 29, 2024
