As American Democracy Is In Peril, Brazilian Films Offer Perspective

When Brazilian journalist Tatiana Merlino watched “The Secret Agent” — 1 of this year’s Oscar nominees for champion image — it felt for illustration seeing scattered scenes from her ain life.

As nan movie follows Marcelo (played by Wagner Moura) — a professor fleeing from a vindictive businessman during Brazil’s subject dictatorship (1964-1985), nan communicative skims done aged audio tapes and newspapers, reviewed by a interrogator looking into really he died. Like her, Merlino besides dug into nan past to portion together really her uncle, Luiz Eduardo Merlino, a communist activist, was killed by nan right-wing authorities successful 1971. Though it was initially reported arsenic a suicide, nan family soon recovered his corpse pinch torture marks successful a morgue.

“It became basal to conflict for memory, truth, and justice, because these crimes committed by dictatorship agents weren’t punished astatine that time, and person not been to this day,” says nan 49-year-old journalist, who first saw “The Secret Agent” successful São Paulo, and made a profession from investigating quality authorities abuses.

“When a state does not travel to position pinch its past,” she adds, “its ghosts resurface.”

Recent dictatorship-themed movies for illustration “The Secret Agent” and “I’m Still Here,” which won nan Oscar for champion world movie successful 2025, were instant blockbusters backmost location successful Brazil. While some films grant those who, for illustration Merlino, still activity justness for nan authorities victims, their fame besides sewage boosted by nan country’s zeitgeist.

To galore Brazilians, these movies served arsenic reminders of what could person been had erstwhile far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, himself a retired Army skipper and a dictatorship nostalgic, succeeded successful his 2022 effort astatine a coup d’etat.

On Jan. 8, 2023, encouraged by Bolsonaro, hundreds of vandals stormed into nan Three Powers Plaza, a quadrate successful nan country’s capital, Brasília, that gathers nan congress, nan ultimate tribunal and nan statesmanlike palace. Neither he nor nan vandals accepted nan 2022 predetermination — won by nan seasoned leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, amended known arsenic “Lula.”

The uprising followed nan aforesaid blueprint arsenic nan pro-Trump rioters down nan Jan. 6 insurrection successful nan United States. Although President Trump himself was federally prosecuted for predetermination obstruction, nan lawsuit was dismissed aft his reelection successful 2024.

Unlike nan U.S., however, Brazil has charged, judged and arrested nan conspirators — including Bolsonaro and members of his unit who participated successful nan coup plot.

“Bolsonaro doesn’t travel from Mars,” said “The Secret Agent” prima Wagner Moura to nan L.A. Times successful February. “He’s profoundly grounded successful nan history of nan country.”

In 1964, a U.S.-backed coup enacted a violent, 21-year autocracy tally by nan military, whose effects still resonate today, says Alessandra Gasparotto, a professor astatine nan Federal University of Pelotas (UFPEL).

“It was a dictatorship that worked from a position of building definite legitimacy, keeping nan legislature functioning, but of course, aft purging dissent,” explains nan Brazilian historian.

“I’m Still Here,” for example, dramatizes nan real-life quest of Eunice Paiva, a housewife whose hubby Rubens Paiva, a erstwhile leftist congressman who had his tenure revoked aft nan coup, past vanished successful nan hands of nan subject successful 1971. To this day, his assemblage still hasn’t been recovered.

In 2014, Bolsonaro, past conscionable a congressman, spit connected a bust of Paiva erected to grant his representation during nan coup’s 50th day successful Congress.

“The cinema of each countries has nan domiciled of preserving memory, truthful if you return a look astatine nan Holocaust, nan American Civil War, aliases World War II movies, it has this domiciled of almost an state of history,” says writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva, boy of Rubens Paiva and writer of nan book from which “I’m Still Here” is based. “There’s an aged saying: History is nan communicative of winners, while creation is of nan defeated.”

In nan lawsuit of Brazil, nan militaries who led nan repressive servants of nan state of nan dictatorship sewage distant pinch torture and execution done a 1979 amnesty law. It was initially enacted to pardon alleged “political crimes” committed by nan authorities guidance and let a modulation to populist — but it was besides utilized to pardon nan dictatorship’s quality authorities violations. Then, successful nan precocious 1980s, nan subject oversaw a slow, gradual displacement to democracy, stepping down from powerfulness only successful 1985.

“This caller republic had much continuity than novelty, since galore politicians who were cardinal to nan dictatorship moved to cardinal roles successful nan antiauthoritarian government,” explains Gasparotto. “That’s why they built this pact [to forgive nan regime’s crimes].”

For that reason, these movies still consciousness contemporary. “The Secret Agent,” for example, blends past and early done nan records analyzed by a researcher, while “I’m Still Here” highlights Eunice Paiva’s post-regime conflict for nan nickname of Rubens Paiva’s death; without immoderate corpse to officialize his death, he was conscionable deemed disappeared.

When Merlino watched nan movie, for example, Eunice reminded her of her grandmother, Iracema Merlino.

“I’m nan 3rd procreation of my family fighting for memory, truth and justice,” says Merlino. “It started pinch my grandmother, who passed away, past it was handed to my mother, who’s now very ill, past to me.”

Nowadays, she awaits proceedings for nan 3rd suit effort of nan family to clasp her uncle’s torturer, Col. Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, accountable — nan 2 different cases against nan accused were dismissed complete nan years.

Since Ustra’s decease successful 2015, nan Merlino family is now suing his property for reparations. Yet he still remains a leader to some; successful 2016, while Bolsonaro was still a congressman, he shouted a dedication to nan representation of nan torturer during nan voting of nan impeachment of Brazil’s erstwhile President Dilma Rousseff — herself 1 of nan victims of Ustra successful nan 1970s, but among nan fewer who survived.

“These films make connections pinch nan coming because knowing nan past is important for knowing today’s contradictions,” says Marcelo Rubens Paiva. “What happened earlier interferes successful nan conflicts a state lives successful today.”

So if authoritarians for illustration Bolsonaro don’t travel retired of nan blue, nan aforesaid goes for different autocratic leaders, for illustration President Trump.

Although founded connected antiauthoritarian principles, nan U.S. itself has a long, muddled history pinch nan concept. The authoritarian move nan state is reckoning pinch is portion of a agelong bequest of inequality that stemmed from nan 246-year institution of slavery. Following its abolishment successful 1865 came a near-centurylong play of hostility marked by group segregation that we now mention to arsenic “Jim Crow.”

“With immoderate exceptions, nan South was governed by a then-segregationist Democrat statement — pinch [rampant] electoral fraud, authoritarianism, usage of section constabulary for governmental repression, and nary chance for opposition, moreover [by] moderates,” says Arthur Avila, a history professor astatine nan Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) successful Brazil.

Although nan Civil Rights Act of 1964 and nan Voting Rights Act of 1965 ended segregation and granted voting authorities to group of each races — signed by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Southern Democrat who collapsed distant from nan party’s history to spearhead progressive home argumentation — nan decades that followed were ridden pinch manipulations of nan electoral system. For illustration gerrymandering, aliases nan believe of manipulating electoral territory boundaries to favour 1 governmental party, is an ongoing, albeit controversial tactic among some Democrats and Republicans.

President Trump himself was federally prosecuted for predetermination obstruction. The indictment alleged that, upon losing nan 2020 election, Trump conspired to overturn nan results and manipulate nan nationalist by spreading mendacious claims of predetermination fraud connected societal media. It based on that this, successful turn, stoked a mob of his supporters into starring nan deadly Jan. 6 attacks connected nan Capitol; but the lawsuit was dismissed upon his reelection successful 2024.

In nan lead-up to nan midterm elections successful November, Trump has pushed for federal power complete elections, restrictions connected mail-in voting and nan summation of citizenship documents to vote, contempt an existing national rule that already prohibits noncitizens from voting successful U.S. elections. (He tried implementing nan second done an executive bid successful 2025, but it was permanently blocked by a national court; a elector ID measure called nan “SAVE America Act” is presently stalling successful nan Senate.)

“There’s a beardown section authoritarian contented successful nan U.S. that Trump himself feeds from,” says Avila.

Besides that, according to Avila, nan state faces a increasing “de-democratization” process from within. This shows successful nan rising power and dismantling of institutions by reactionary sectors — including efforts to artifact professional, acquisition and diversion programs promoting DEI, aliases diversity, equity and inclusion — from what galore critics and scholars person cited arsenic lingering resentment from desegregation, he says.

“We whitethorn spot it arsenic a slow authoritarian move successful North American authorities that didn’t overturn nan antiauthoritarian authorities yet,” Arthur considers. “But if this process goes on, and that’s a conjecture, successful nan adjacent decade nan U.S. whitethorn go a authorities of objection that keeps antiauthoritarian appearances but has been stripped of immoderate democracy’s constituent whatsoever.”

As movies specified arsenic “The Secret Agent and “I’m Still Here” punctual us, a awesome woody of maintaining a populist has to do pinch keeping a bully memory.