Official Trailer for Doc ‘Apocalypse in the Tropics’ on Brazil’s Politics
by Alex Billington
June 30, 2025
Source: YouTube
“With truth, we’re building new politics in Brazil.” Netflix has revealed a trailer for the documentary film titled Apocalypse in the Tropics, the official follow-up film from Petra Costa after making The Edge of Democracy back in 2019 (also excellent). She continues to film & follow Brazilian politics into an extremely tumultuous time when the right wing jackass Jair Bolsonaro is president and the chaos with everyone in the country. When does a democracy end, and theocracy begin? the film wonders. Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics investigates the increasingly powerful grip that evangelical Christian leaders hold over politics in Brazil. Weaving together past & present, the film holds a mirror up to the rest of the world. With the savage clarity that defined her last film, Costa documents a time of kaleidoscopic confusion and fear with intimate observational filmmaking that braids together the personal, the historic and the mythic. As faith shifts from private refuge to public battleground, Brazil holds a mirror to a world where democracies are being ruined by the power of prophecy. It’ll be streaming on Netflix worldwide later in July this summer. A must see for anyone who wants a glimpse into the utter insanity of right wing worldwide politics these days. Watch for it.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Petra Costa’s doc Apocalypse in the Tropics, from YouTube:
When does a democracy end, and a theocracy begin? Apocalypse in the Tropics takes us on a decade-long journey through the spiritual and political upheaval of Brazil. What begins as a search for signs of life in a fragile democracy transforms into a deeper inquiry into the seductions of power, prophecy, belief. Costa gains extraordinary access to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President Jair Bolsonaro and the nation’s magnetic televangelist Silas Malafaia. More than a chronicle of political change, Apocalypse in the Tropics is a cinematic investigation of fault lines that emerge when religion fuels political ambition.
Apocalypse in the Tropics, also titled Apocalipse nos Trópicos in Portuguese, is a doc written & produced & directed by acclaimed Brazilian doc filmmaker Petra Costa, director of the other docs Elena, Olmo & the Seagull, and The Edge of Democracy previously. Produced and co-written by Alessandra Orofino. Executive produced by Jenny Raskin, Jim & Susan Swartz, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Katrina vanden Heuvel, Jeffrey Lurie, Marie Therese Guirgis, Felipe Estefan, Rafael Georges Zein, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Meadow Fund, Katy Drake Bettner, Kate Hurwitz, InMaat, Frida Polli, James Costa, Trevor Burgess. This initially premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival last year, and it also played at Telluride & NYFF. Netflix releases Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics streaming on Netflix worldwide starting on July 14th, 2025. 🇧🇷
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