Apocalypse in the Tropics review – how Brazilian politics succumbed to rightwing fundamentalism

Petra Costa explains how screeching evangelical Christian leaders have become kingmakers to all politicians in a chilling documentary that shows democracy on the brinkPetra Costa’s documentary tells a grim story about modern Brazil and leaves it up to us to decide if it has a happy ending. Apocalypse in the Tropics is about the country’s political leaders’ addiction to rightwing Christian fundamentalism, US-style prayer breakfasts, and a particular enthusiasm for the Book of Revelations, whose apocalyptic rhetoric is used to amplify all manner of conspiracist, xenophobic screeching.The politicians have a close association to televangelists like the always angry Pastor Silas Malafaia, interviewed at some length here, a strange man thrilled and energised by his own national celebrity and wealth, though irritated by questioning about his private plane, whose value, he says, has depreciated from over a million dollars new to about $800,000. Malafaia is someone for whom an ear-splittingly shrill and boorish rant about gays and communists is a natural mode of communication. Continue reading...

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