Petra Costa’s new documentary Apocalypse in the Tropics functions as a continuation and sidebar to her previous film, the chilling, complex, and Oscar nominated The Edge of Democracy. That film expertly looked at the political turmoil in Brazil in the middle of the past decade, which led to the arrest of left leaning President Lula da Silva, and the opening of a path to power for strong-armed right wing leader Jair Bolsonaro to take the country’s top elected office. The films overlap to complete a total picture of Brazil’s messy state of political affairs, but Apocalypse in the Tropics looks to a more specific and deeply entrenched aspect of Bolsonaro’s controversial time in office, one that other world democracies are forced to contend with on a regular basis: the role and influence of Evangelical Christians.
In a country where the former rule of a Communist dictatorship remains in the memory of many voters, a slant towards conservatism and protectionism could be understood to some degree, especially in Brazil where a large divide exists between city centres and outlying towns and rural communities where churches have more sway. But conservative politics is the realm where outspoken and influential religious minded pundits tend to thrive. In a divided country where support between the left and right is split almost perfectly down the middle, the thirty percent of Bolsonaro voters who identify as Evangelicals hold a lot of power and sway. These influencers can bend the Bible to fit their political whims, hiding behind the authority of the church, preaching the prosperity gospel, and finding powerful backing in top levels of government.
Apocalypse in the Tropics finds Costa illustrating why these voices can’t be discounted or ignored, even if a politician wants to keep them at arms length. Apocalypse in the Tropics shows Brazil at a point where no one could ever hope to win an election without courting the evangelical vote, a tendency towards the right that viewers will be able to recognize in other global democracies at the moment, especially throughout the Americas. While Costa examines the rise of the religious right through a specifically Brazilian lens, Apocalypse in the Tropics shows that these high holy rollers often operate from the same playbook, and as the title suggests, might low key want to bring about the day of judgment and reckoning they think might bring them towards salvation and closer to God.
Costa, as touched upon in her previous film, frames Bolsonaro as an unfit leader, and not just because by the end of Apocalypse in the Tropics he will have been voted out of office, fleeing the country in disgrace. If anything, Costa shows a slight bit of sympathy for the devil here, painting Bolsonaro as a puppet with no ideas of his own and soundbites fed to him by his inner circle. Everyone who disagrees is a “left wing nut job!” His presidency has been prophesized! A gun in every home! No slavery reparations! No indigenous spaces! His view on the COVID pandemic was akin to just shrugging it all off and saying that we all gotta die sometime, giving the country the second highest death rate in the world. While Bolsonaro delivers these messages with all the gusto of a preacher speaking to the congregation, it’s the choir that feeds him these talking points in the first place.
The real focal point of Costa’s film isn’t Bolsonaro, but a much more candid and dangerously outspoken dominionist pastor, Silas Malafia, a man so high on his own supply and in love with his voice that they probably should’ve just cut the middleman and run for office themself. An out and proud bigot who once aligned with the left wing more than the right, Malafia is the type of chameleonic figure that identifies more with power and wealth than morality; the type of person who self-identifies as an anti-Marxist, just so he can say that anyone who disagrees with him is a Communist. Malafia and his ilk are the string pullers in Brazil, and Bolsonaro is simply a means to an end. As long as his coffers are full and he’s not losing money, he thinks the world is heading in the right direction, a common logical fallacy shared by many conservatives.
A reckoning does come for Brazil’s former leader, as history has shown, but Costa warns in the film’s closing moments that the power held by Evangelicals isn’t going anywhere. Although he returned to office after being disgraced, da Silva has already been forced to cozy up to the base of voters that defined Bosonaro’s presidency. Apocalypse in the Tropics is a chilling look at the religious assimilation of all things political; a world where the divide between church and state no longer exists. And it’s not only happening in Brazil.
Apocalypse in the Tropics screens at VIFF Centre in Vancouver on Friday, July 11, 2025 (3:30 pm), Saturday, July 12 (2:30 pm), and Sunday, July 13 (4:30 pm). It screens at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto on Saturday, July 12 (8:00 pm) and Sunday, July 13 (12:30 pm). It streams on Netflix starting Monday, July 14.
