A film worth watching as we approach the "edge of democracy"

Petra Costa’s 2019 documentary, The Edge of Democracy, is a close-up, inside look at the top leadership in Costa’s native Brazil, going back two generations, o the time of her parents’ youth. Her parents, young activists, were imprisoned and tortured by the brutal government; today, her mother is a strong voice for political reform and plays a minor but significant role in PC’s project. But most of the documentary focuses on the most recent leadership in Brazil, with amazing inside access that somehow PC managed to get, most likely through her friendship w/ and ties to the populist leader and former president “Lula.” What we see over the course of the film is the corruption and bribery endemic to every aspect of Brazilian political life, as well as the tumultuous and vindictiv govonernment that impeaches and convicts sitting presidents in what are clearly acts of political vengeance rather than justice. We also see some incredible footage of the brutal and near-riotous struggles on the floor in the Congress – far wilder and more violent than we’ve yet to see in the 21^st-centurty U.S. – and the powerful and often frightening street demonstrations in suppport of (or opposition to) various political leaders. The end result is the rise to power of the tyrant Bolsonaro. If we could time travel and move this film back to, say 2015, we in the U.S. would shrug and say “it can’t happen here.” Today, though – it’s a different world and a different story, and we can’t help but see this documentary as a warning, maybe a prediction, as to where the U.S. government could be heading; to parallels between Bolsanoro and our so-called president are harrowing, and the riotous street scenes heralding his ascension to power seem frightfully prophetic. All told, it’s a powerful and timely documentary – a little tough at first to follow, for most in the U.S., and PC’s English-langauge voice-over narration is a little to understated and soft-spoken – but these are quibbles, as we in the U.S. approach the edge of democracy right now.