\n<\/p>\n
P<\/span>etra Costa was rewatching footage of what has become a historic speech made in 2021 by Jair Bolsonaro, the then Brazilian president, when suddenly she noticed something that went largely unnoticed at the time. Addressing thousands of supporters in S\u00e3o Paulo, the far-right leader lashed out at a supreme court justice, and said he would only leave the presidency \u201cin prison or dead\u201d. This statement is now cited as evidence against Bolsonaro, who is currently on trial, accused of attempting a coup to overturn his 2022 election defeat to current president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro denies these allegations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n But what caught Costa\u2019s eye in the footage was Bolsonaro\u2019s gaze. As he shouted into the microphone, the paratrooper-turned-populist repeatedly looked \u2013 seemingly seeking validation \u2013 at one particular man in his entourage: the televangelist Silas Malafaia. In response, the evangelical leader appeared to be lip-syncing along to the president\u2019s every word. \u201cI watched the scene many times,\u201d says film-maker Costa, \u201cand the only conclusion I can draw is that Malafaia wrote Bolsonaro\u2019s speech. If not, how could he have known every word?\u201d<\/p>\n Many people come to the supreme court with great CVs \u2013 but the first requirement is to be evangelical\u00a0<\/p>\n This footage provides a compelling moment in the 41-year-old\u2019s new documentary, Apocalypse in the Tropics. Oscar-nominated for The Edge of Democracy, her previous film about Brazil\u2019s descent into populism, Costa this time explores the growing influence of evangelical leaders in the country\u2019s political process. \u201cThis film is about Brazil,\u201d she says, \u201cbut the story is part of a global phenomenon of religious motivations undermining democracies. We\u2019ve seen the rise of religious fundamentalism joined by a nationalist, conservative and extremist agenda all over the world \u2013 from the US to Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Theocracy fears \u2026 writer and director Petra Costa.<\/span> Photograph: Virginie Khateeb<\/p>\n In many ways, the new film is a continuation of the critically acclaimed previous documentary, which charted the unravelling of the democratic fabric of Latin America\u2019s largest country with rare, behind-the-scenes access to key moments in recent politics, including the rise to power of backbench congressman Bolsonaro.<\/p>\n Now, through the lens of what she describes as the growing influence of Christian religious fundamentalism, Costa updates that story, covering events such as the January 2023 riot in which Bolsonaro supporters ransacked the presidential palace, Congress and the supreme court. As investigations by the federal police and the public prosecutor\u2019s office later concluded, the uprising was allegedly <\/strong>the climax of a coup attempt that began while Bolsonaro was still in power.<\/p>\n A central figure in Apocalypse in the Tropics is 66-year-old Malafaia, one of Brazil\u2019s most prominent preachers, with whom Costa and her team, which includes producer Alessandra Orofino, conducted about a dozen interviews. Although Bolsonaro had contact with many other Christian leaders during his four-year term, the film-maker believes none wielded as much influence over the president as Malafaia. In 2022, the evangelist even joined the Brazilian president\u2019s delegation to London for Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s funeral. \u201cNext to him,\u201d she says, \u201cBolsonaro almost seems diminished \u2013 like a child in front of a master.\u201d<\/p>\n In September 2018, just two days after being elected, Bolsonaro took to the stage at Malafaia\u2019s church, greeted by chants of \u201c<\/em>Myth! Myth!\u201d, as he is known, from the hundreds of worshippers present. Before handing the microphone to him, Malafaia paraphrased a passage from Corinthians, saying: \u201cGod chose the foolish things to shame the wise \u2026 God chose the lowly things, those of little value, the despised, the discarded, those that are nothing \u2026 to shame the things that are \u2013 so that no flesh may boast before Him. That\u2019s why God chose you!\u201d He then pointed to Bolsonaro, who listened with a furrowed brow.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Apocalypse in the Tropics also captures a private meeting between the two, inside the presidential office, in which the preacher recalls officiating at Bolsonaro\u2019s wedding. The far-right leader identifies as Catholic but his wife, Michelle, is a Baptist. Malafaia says: \u201cWe were waiting for the bride \u2026 and this guy came up to me. I say \u2018this guy\u2019 because we\u2019re friends \u2026 and said, \u2018Malafaia, I\u2019m going to run for president.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Are you out of your mind?\u2019 \u2026 I left thinking, \u2018This guy is crazy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly after, Costa asks the president if he will follow through on his promise to nominate someone \u201cterribly evangelical\u201d to a vacant supreme court seat. \u201cYes,\u201d he replies. \u201cMany people come to us with fantastic CVs, but the first requirement is to be evangelical. And, of course, after that, also having legal knowledge.\u201d Bolsonaro kept his promise, appointing another preacher to the court. In fact, such was the religious influence over Bolsonaro\u2019s administration that Costa found herself wondering if Brazil was turning into a theocracy \u2013 a process she believes was halted by Lula\u2019s election, although the risk, with new elections coming next year, \u201cremains very much alive\u201d.<\/p>\n Although the former president is barred from running until 2030 by an electoral court ruling, polls suggest that any candidates backed by him \u2013 including his wife or one of his sons \u2013 could pose a serious challenge to Lula, who has already confirmed he will seek re-election.<\/p>\n We approached Bolsonaro about all the claims in this article but his team did not respond.<\/p>\n <\/span>In their pocket? \u2026 Jair Bolsonaro during a television interview.<\/span> Photograph: Francisco Proner\/2025 Netflix, Inc.<\/p>\n The film weaves together interviews, archive footage and Costa\u2019s narration, accompanied by closeups of apocalyptic paintings such as the depictions of the Last Judgment by Fra Angelico and Hans Memling. The rise of evangelicals in Brazil is described as \u201cone of the fastest religious shifts in human history\u201d. In recent years, alongside a congress that grows more conservative with each election, gospel singers and religious influencers have become superstars, while Brazil\u2019s still immensely popular telenovelas, or soaps, have increasingly incorporated evangelical characters and storylines into their plots.<\/p>\n Some experts even predict that Protestants, Baptists, Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals will at some point become the majority in Brazil \u2013 the country with the largest Catholic population in the world. The documentary says they are now \u201cover 30%\u201d of the population, although new census data released last month \u2013 after the film had been finalised \u2013 showed they make up only 27%, which nonetheless marks a significant increase since 1970, when they were 5.2%. Catholics declined from 91% to 57% over the same period. As they make up more than a quarter of the population, evangelicals represent a major challenge for any non-conservative candidate, such as President Lula, who faces deep resistance from them.<\/p>\n Apocalypse in the Tropics depicts an exchange between a mother and her teenage daughter inside their home, during Brazil\u2019s 2018 presidential campaign. The mother says she plans to vote for Bolsonaro \u201cbecause he\u2019s a man of God\u201d. She adds that Lula, although \u201calso a man of God\u201d, is \u201cfrom Candombl\u00e9\u201d \u2013 an Afro-Brazilian religion that faces persecution from some Christian groups. In reality, Lula is Catholic, but he has expressed support for Afro-Brazilian faiths.<\/p>\n <\/span>Powerful figure \u2026 preacher Silas Malafaia speaks at a rally in support of Bolsonaro.<\/span> Photograph: Miguel Schincariol\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n The mother then asks her daughter to look up a photo of Lula \u201creceiving the sword of Xang\u00f4\u201d. In fact, it was an axe \u2013 a symbol of the orix\u00e1<\/em>, a divine spirit associated with justice. It was a gift to Lula from a university rector in 2017. As the girl begins typing \u201cLula\u201d on her phone, the autocomplete turns up phrases such as \u201cbeing consecrated to the devil\u201d and \u201csupports unisex bathrooms\u201d.<\/p>\n The film <\/em>is not, however, intended as a critique of any specific religion, says Costa, but rather of the \u201cpolitical manipulation of faith, which poses one of the greatest threats to democracies around the world\u201d. She recalls witnessing firsthand how the church can positively influence people\u2019s lives, citing preachers who provided \u201cphysical, emotional and spiritual care\u201d in favelas during the pandemic, offering food, jobs and even paying for ambulances.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we need is a more nuanced perspective,\u201d Costa concludes. \u201cThere won\u2019t be a war in which good defeats evil, not from the right, nor from the left. There must be dialogue \u2013 and that\u2019s complex and difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n Apocalypse in the Tropics is on limited release in UK cinemas on 11 July, and available on Netflix on 14 July<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Petra Costa was rewatching footage of what has become a historic speech made in 2021 by Jair Bolsonaro, the then Brazilian president, when suddenly she noticed something that went largely unnoticed at the time. Addressing thousands of supporters in S\u00e3o Paulo, the far-right leader lashed out at a supreme court justice, and said he would<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[3159,3160,3157,1929,3161,1930,1519,2519,3158],"class_list":{"0":"post-10260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bolsonaro","9":"tag-brazil","10":"tag-chose","11":"tag-documentary","12":"tag-evangelicals","13":"tag-films","14":"tag-god","15":"tag-grip","16":"tag-jair"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}