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Apocalypse in the Tropics

Play trailer Apocalypse in the Tropics 2024 1h 50m Documentary History Play Trailer Watchlist
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When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? In APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS, Petra Costa investigates the increasingly powerful grip that faith leaders hold over politics in Brazil. Costa gains extraordinary access to the country's top political leaders, including President Lula, and former President Bolsonaro, as well as to Brazil's most famous televangelist: a larger-than-life pastor who seems to play puppet master to the latter. As the film unveils the key role the evangelical movement has played in Brazil's recent political turmoil, it also reveals the apocalyptic theology that drives its chief protagonists. As in her Academy-Award® nominated THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY, Costa documents a time of profound confusion and despair with lucidity and a poetic eye. Weaving past and present, she immerses us in the contradictory realities of a young democracy that is hanging on by a thread, and in doing so holds up a mirror to the rest of the world.

Critics Reviews

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Guilherme Jacobs indieWire 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. Rated: C Aug 29, 2024 Full Review Jordan Mintzer The Hollywood Reporter What makes Tropics so riveting is the way Costa constantly shifts between the epic and the intimate, the macro and the micro. Aug 29, 2024 Full Review Jonathan Romney Screen International Given a distinct personal edge by Costa’s own measured commentary, this is an important study that is bound to attract politically curious audiences. Aug 29, 2024 Full Review Carla Hay Culture Mix Apocalypse in the Tropics won't do much to change political opinions that are on the extreme right or extreme left. However, it's an insightful documentary about how evangelicalism has affected Brazilian politics in the 21st century. Oct 17, 2024 Full Review Dan Bayer Next Best Picture “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. Rated: 8/10 Oct 3, 2024 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com Beyond its obvious ups and downs, it is a documentary with a lot of valuable and revealing material. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 3.5/5 Sep 30, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews

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Movie Info

Synopsis When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? In APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS, Petra Costa investigates the increasingly powerful grip that faith leaders hold over politics in Brazil. Costa gains extraordinary access to the country's top political leaders, including President Lula, and former President Bolsonaro, as well as to Brazil's most famous televangelist: a larger-than-life pastor who seems to play puppet master to the latter. As the film unveils the key role the evangelical movement has played in Brazil's recent political turmoil, it also reveals the apocalyptic theology that drives its chief protagonists. As in her Academy-Award® nominated THE EDGE OF DEMOCRACY, Costa documents a time of profound confusion and despair with lucidity and a poetic eye. Weaving past and present, she immerses us in the contradictory realities of a young democracy that is hanging on by a thread, and in doing so holds up a mirror to the rest of the world.
Director
Petra Costa
Producer
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino
Screenwriter
Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, David Barker, Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino, Nels Bangerter, David Barker
Production Co
Busca Vida Filmes, Peri Productions
Genre
Documentary, History
Original Language
Brazilian Portuguese
Runtime
1h 50m