European channel launches documentary about the retreat of democracy in Brazil.

By Xandra Stefanel, Rebuildables - “A profound crisis,” “a captivating radiography of the ongoing changes, between democratic retreat and resistance.” This is how the Franco-German public television channel ARTE describes the documentary. Brésil – Le Grand Bond Arrière, from French, Brazil - O A Big Step Backwards, which presents the protagonists of the coup against President Dilma Rousseff, the alarming consequences for the Brazilian population, and the popular resistance movement that has been gaining strength.

At just over 55 minutes long, the film directed by Frédérique Zingaro and Mathilde Bonnassieux shows European audiences how much Brazil has regressed in such a short time. “Less than a year and a half after his election, despite the 54 million people who placed their trust in him for a second term, some celebrate, others denounce a coup d'état, but throughout the country, the feeling is one of unease. The deputies who should represent and work for the future of Brazil voted in the name of their families, their children, their wives, and their religions, and not in the name of the people or the country. For the first time, the people saw the true face of their politicians,” the documentary narrates in its opening minutes.

Comedian Gregório Duvivier, one of the creators of the series Back door, is a sort of host of the documentary and, in addition to criticizing the political protagonists responsible for the situation the country is in, he meets with movements and people who are resisting, such as the Landless Workers' Movement and the Homeless Workers' Movement, high school students who organized encampments in schools, and a part of the independent press.

The traditional press is completely exposed in its objectives. "The new president Michel Temer could well be implicated in the cases [...]corruption"From Lava Jato. But the press – all the press – never talks about that," the voiceover points out. offOne of the interviewees, journalist Luiz Carlos Azenha, agrees: “Brazil is very close to a media dictatorship, a dictatorship forged by half a dozen families. We are close to that. I have a long history in journalism and I have never seen anything like what is happening now.”

The film portrays President Michel Temer as a mere representative of a class that only pursues its own interests. "Shocked, Brazilians fell silent, but they are still brooding: the walls display the spirit of the people, 'Temer out'. The new president's popularity rating is close to zero today. It may even become negative if he is also cited in corruption cases, like two-thirds of the deputies. Temer has no popular legitimacy. He is simply the showcase of a fiercely disparate parliamentary majority dedicated to its own interests, like the deputies of the rural caucus who have no shame in displaying their power," the narration continues.

And to prove his point, the video continues with an interview with Congressman Nelson Marquezelli (PTB-SP): “Agriculture is the foundation of the country. If you don't put in a minister who speaks the same language as our parliamentary front, neither the minister nor the president will last long.”

Next, Congressman Luiz Carlos Heinze (PP-RS) presents his farm, his family, and his thousands of head of cattle. The congressman, who received the Survival Award for Racist of the Year, an international organization defending indigenous populations, is presented as a "model of success, Brazilian style," for being part of one of the wealthy families that received land during the military dictatorship.

“If Brazil harvests 200 million tons of grain and has a herd of over 200 million head of cattle, all of that was planted at that time,” the politician proudly declares. “But when the PT took power and began dividing the land with the landless and the indigenous people, he was obviously angry. The 'good' congressman realized that he didn't like all forms of land division,” the narration mocks.

Among the setbacks of the Temer government presented in the film are cuts to incentives for family farming and popular housing programs like Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House, My Life), among others. It is constantly emphasized that none of this is shown by the mainstream media, only by the alternative press, "which is developing rapidly," as is the case with Agência Pública, duly featured in the film.

The rightward shift in Brazilian mayoral elections and in the politics of several Latin American countries are also themes that come to the forefront in the work. It's clear that the overall scenario is disheartening, but it's not just lamentation (and vicarious embarrassment) that reaches the viewer. Beyond the hope emanating from independent media, Gregório Duvivier points out the remarkable popular resistance emanating from the new generation. The feature film asserts that the student occupations of schools are the "symbol of a country that is bringing back oxygen to democracy."

The Brazilian film industry – whose main distributor is Globo Filmes – has been investing resources obtained through tax incentive laws in fictional films that romanticize and glamorize the backdrop of the coup – one of them, based on Lava Jato, has been a box office failure. It is therefore up to international independent producers to present a narrative of this current Brazilian historical moment.

Brazil – The Great Leap Backwards is no longer available on the ARTE website, but it can be watched on various YouTube channels, mostly in French and without subtitles. The link below shows the German version with Portuguese subtitles: