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In the opening shot of Apocalypse in the Tropics, the camera pans across a cracked canvas on which a group of nude figures, all with blurred expressions, seek shelter inside the protective cocoon of a cracked white egg. This detail is part of the enigmatic triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, a painting that serves as a moral warning about the destructive power of unchecked desires. It’s a fitting introduction to a documentary that examines the rise of Christian Nationalism in Brazil, which hits Netflix today after premiering at last year’s Venice Film Festival.
Directed, co-written, and narrated by Petra Costa, whose 2019 film The Edge of Democracy was nominated for an Academy Award, this eye-opening documentary is divided into chapters, each one recounting a seismic sociopolitical moment that gripped the nation. The cinematography blends the historical with the mythic and personal, combining archival footage and interviews with spiritual leaders and political officials. Among the most prominent are televangelist Silas Malafaia and Brazil’s current and former presidents, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (known as Lula) and Jair Bolsonaro.
“Making this film was an epic journey. We filmed for four years, almost uninterruptedly, during one of the darkest and most difficult times in Brazil’s history,” Costa tells TIME. Her team sifted through thousands of hours of archival footage, filed many freedom of information requests in Brazil and the U.S., gained access to a powerful televangelist and two presidents engaged in power struggles, and navigated COVID-19 wards, mass graves, and the homes of the poor. “Our desire was to capture the pulse of Brazilian society from the streets to the congress, up to the presidential palace. In doing so, what came into focus through the material was the extraordinary grip religious leaders were holding on political power, and the threat religious fundamentalism is posing to the separation of church and…
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