The Edge of Democracy

Documentary extremely important to our perception of democracy and how it has been elitist and oligarchic in Brazil. The Documentary presents facts, and makes us realize how recent history unfortunately tends to follow and perpetuate the old models. It causes reflection on the importance of democratic acts, on the construction of self-opinions, and on how we are still vulnerable to being induced by the medium and a numerically small but great perceive of privileges. My sincerest congratulations to the entire production.

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.

Co-written, co-produced & 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 nation's current state by taking us through the rise & fall of two presidencies. But it isn't an impartial take.

When seen from an outside perspective, the documentary serves as a warning for numerous other democracies around the world whose fabric is both threatened & 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.

Overall, The Edge of Democracy is an extensively researched & brilliantly narrated documentary but it is also diluted by the filmmaker'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 that's in store when the foundations on which a nation functions are ignored.

The documentary offers a very intimate view on the events surrounding the last decade of Brazil's democracy.

It shows some background on the historical political forces that dominate the country but fails to present a broad perspective of the context. It's clear though that this was never the objective when the narrator presents itself with her views. The documentary does very good at reminding us and offering a more static showcase of the ongoing forces that threatened democracy in an attempt to circumvent investigations and save themselves.

I had more expectations related to the informative content as I'm a native myself and the actual playtime of the documentary being a bit long but i won't say I'm frustrated.

I concluded it's a good resumé for foreign audiences to understand the current events in Brazil and a very intimate display of the effects of a political crysis in a borderline democracy.

This is a such a well made documentary on Brazil's politics. Being non-Brazlian myself, I went into this documentary knowing literally nothing about Brazil's modern political history, aside from hearing the names of Lula and Dilma mentioned in the news occasionally. So this was a very enlightening film for me. My only criticisms are the length of the film, but with the material the makers were running with I seriously doubt they could've shortened it down at all. Also the narrator's hypnotic tone was making it hard to keep focus. All in all, I highly recommend this film not only as an educational experience but also for everyone to realize that we all live in an age where political games are being played against voting publics across the globe, and sadly this is not confined to specific countries anymore. Wishing the people there much prosperity in the years to come.

Watching this makes me really worried. The power play in Brazil is a sample of what's going on all over the world with the ignorant bullies who have taken over with their nationalist facade cause. Must watch!