Am Rande der Demokratie (2019)

Am Rande der Demokratie: Directed by Petra Costa. With Dilma Rousseff, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Marisa Letícia Lula da Silva, Sergio Moro. Political documentary and personal memoir collide in this exploration into the complex truth behind the unraveling of two Brazilian presidencies.

“Skilfully merging the political with the personal, The Edge of Democracy provides an interesting insight into the 2014 socio-political crisis which ripped Brazil apart, and paved way for a situation where the country can now slide back into the very oppressive system it fought so hard and for so long to overcome.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCo-written, co-produced u0026amp; directed by Petra Costa, the documentary establishes her political leanings early on by offering some background context that shaped her worldview and then narrates the events that led to her nationu0026#39;s current state by taking us through the rise u0026amp; fall of two presidencies. But it isnu0026#39;t an impartial take.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen seen from an outside perspective, the documentary serves as a warning for numerous other democracies around the world whose fabric is both threatened u0026amp; failing, including my own. Costa allows the plot to unfold at an unhurried pace so viewers can take in all the information but it only manages to be riveting in bits n pieces.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, The Edge of Democracy is an extensively researched u0026amp; brilliantly narrated documentary but it is also diluted by the filmmakeru0026#39;s own political preference and is going to polarise many. Nonetheless, it does rather well as a cautionary tale and paints an unnerving portrait of the future thatu0026#39;s in store when the foundations on which a nation functions are ignored.”