Over the years, the Bolsonaro family and the Trumps have met several times. In one of the most absurd slides of Trump’s first mandate, Bolsonaro brought an entourage to dinner in Mar-A-Lago, and nearly two dozen members of the group were subsequently descended with Covid. (Bolsonaro escaped the virus, but he caught up with him a few months after his return to Brazil. Held in quarantine at the presidential palace, he was bitten by a bird similar to an immeu that lived on the field.)
Even with Bolsonaro out of the office, the trajectories of the two men seem unusually linked. While Trump works towards an increasingly militarized us, Bolsonaro often spoke nostalgically about the military dictatorship which governed Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Although the regime killed hundreds of citizens and tortured tens of thousands of others, Bolsonaro, a former paratro who served as an officer in these years, said “No longer killed”. While he had his blow against Lula, he had the support of a large military sector; Many observers are concerned about the way the armed forces will react if it is found guilty.
Many Bolsonaro supporters seem fundamentally non -persuadable. Like Trump, he took his favor by evangelical Christians, even if he seems to limit his religious respect to occasional acts of performative piety. In Brazil, Christianity is an important and growing political force; More than thirty percent of residents are Pentecostalists, against thirteen percent ten years ago.
This phenomenon is fascinatingly illuminated by the Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa in a newly out documentary entitled “Apocalypse in the Tropics”. (His previous film, “The Edge of Democracy”, which traced the shift from Brazil to the autocracy and the victory of Bolsonaro, was nominated for an Oscars, in 2020.) Costa seeks a more in -depth understanding of the vague Pentecostalism which rehabits the country – and in particular of the relationship between Bolsonaro and its manufacturer of spiritual rotations, Named by Silas Malaaa.
Using images that extends over a large part of the last decade, Costa shows how the two men have worked to combine spiritual influence and populist politics. In the private pulpit and chair, Malafaia made its words against “cultural Marxism” and “politically correct”, calling for depositing the “left nuts” – a reference to the Lula popular workers’ party. On the campaign track, Bolsonaro has promised that each citizen could have a firearm at home and that “there will be no thumbs up for indigenous peoples”, a reference to the constitutional obligation of Brazil to delimit land for the private indigenous peoples of the country.
Some criticisms said that Costa exaggerates the influence of Malafaia. But, when I spoke to him recently, she underlined a fiery speech that Bolsonaro delivered, in 2021, in which he swore not to respect the decisions of Moraes and declared that his crusade to find power could only have three results: victory, prison or death. While he was talking, Costa saw Malafaia whisper. “Seeing this scene, I wondered if it was not Malafaia that wrote this speech,” she said.
His film shows Malafaia on stage with Bolsonaro in the church, and by his side after a stabbing almost deadly on the track of the countryside; We see them sharing a laugh of Bolsonaro’s wedding, during which Malafaia has officiated. Throughout, in interviews with Costa, Malafaia justifies its political aspiration with biblical parables. During a chaotic hilarious road through Rio de Janeiro, Malafaia succumbs to the rage of the road, then excuses his behavior saying: “Jesus cracked a whip against the people who play in the temple.”
A few weeks ago, Malafaia was placed in investigation after the messages found on the mobile phone of Bolsonaro revealed that he advised the former president to face the accusations brought against him; At one point, Malafaia suggests that Bolsonaro records a message to Trump, providing discussion points to use against the Lula government. Bolsonaro tells Malafaia that he will try, but that he is distracted by a hiccup crisis.
Once the messages have become public, Malafaia shared an unrepentant article in social media: “When Billy Graham advised American presidents, we celebrated his courage as proof that the Gospel can reach the highest levels of power. But when a Brazilian pastor is called upon to advise a politician, he is immediately labeled `Corructor, such as paradise, the pace of the head by deducting the nationality of the prosperous person. Jr. raised his voice against racism, he was killed as a martyr and remembered as a prophet of justice. »»
While the Supreme Court is preparing to announce its verdict in the case of Bolsonaro, it is difficult to know how many Brazilians will be in the version of religion politicized by Malafaia and how much will adhere to the without compromise of Moraes. In a striking scene from Costa’s film, she recently accompanies evangelical legislators to a rally in the parliamentary building, where they pray extensively, crying and begging God to enter the room. In a later voiceover, Costa reflects that, even if it is from the same country as Pentecostals, its fundamentally secular environment seems to be a world apart: “I knew what the Russian revolution and the oxygen formula was, but nothing on the apostle Paul.” She considered that she was attending religion to model himself in “an unprecedented political force” – a triumph of faith on reason, and on the democratic principles that underlie modern Brazil.
However, Costa told me that the Bolsonaro trial represented his own historical account. “Brazil has never tried the army for what they did during their dictatorship,” she said. “They have never been punished for their crimes. Bolsonaro was elected president to celebrate these crimes, therefore, if it is condemned, it will be a threshold of civilization for Brazil. In a country shaped by coups, it will be the first time that a person will be sent to prison to promote one. ” She continued: “It is interesting to see that we are changing places with the United States, in a way. The United States has promoted the Brazilian military coup [of 1964]But now Brazil is the first nation to overcome this wave of new fascism, while the United States has been incapable of doing anything for its own coup attempt and even elected Donald Trump. “”
I asked Costa what could happen if Bolsonaro was condemned. Did the army of believers from Malafaia descend the street? Would the disciples of Bolsonaro take the Capitole again? She recognized that the situation remained “fragile” and that the risk of insurrection seemed dangerously real. “Many of us are afraid of a return to 1964,” she said. At the same time, Trump’s efforts to impose his will had returned; In at least certain parts of Brazilian society, prices and the rhetoric of intimidation had made people insist that the country seeks justice on its own conditions. Almost everything could happen, Costa said: “Let’s see what the dramaturgy of Brazilian life has in store for us.” ♦
