Apocalypse in the Tropics

An Academy Award nominee for Edge of Democracy, Petra Costa returns with a fascinating take on how the Evangelical movement has taken Brazil by storm over recent decades, to the point that one third of the population now identifies that way. With this surge in popularity comes political power, and preachers have been quick to flex. The religious right worked hand in hand with one of their own, President Jair Bolsonaro, to eradicate constitutional barriers between Church and State and when left wing candidate (and former President) Lula won reelection in 2023, denied the results and attempted a populist coup. (Any resemblance to events in the United States are purely coincidental.)

Costa gets remarkable access to televangelist Silas Malafaia, a close ally of Bolsonaro who evidently loves being on camera and remains completely unabashed about his influence, no matter that Bolsonaro’s disregard to Covid-19 science doomed the country to log the second highest death toll in the world. Equally interesting is the back story here: how Henry Kissinger sounded the alarm about socialist Catholic elements in Latin America, and the new “Christ and Capitalism” fundamentalism espoused by Billy Graham took root.

This riveting and enlightening film proves an essential view of history in the making.

Pat Mullen, POV magazine