The Edge of Democracy

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.

Haters gonna hate. Some people that are rating with the lowest score (I bet most of them didn't even watched the film) just make the point for the foreign audience of how polarized Brazil it is right now. Petra did a great job by condensed the political situation of the country from the last decade with her personal and also analytical view.

Petra Costa is perhaps the best documentary director in Brazil. Her debut is the masterpiece Elena, a very personal look to her sister. The Edge of the Democracy, her third feature, is another kind a monster. A political one, to be exat, in which she narrates the oddly "democratic" impeachment of president Dilma Roussef.

Costa's talent is to make simple footage (either from stock and original shots) into sheer cinematic strenght. A rare gift, I might add.

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.

It's beautiful to get to see a brazilian-produced documentary about brazilians, made with such responsible care throughout decades of filming.

What lacks in this film, I think, are basically two things. Not in production or structure, in any way, but in narrative.

At the same time that Petra's perspective of brazilian society adds to the experience of the movie, like her interesting backstory and presence in important political moments (awesomely shown), I feel like a certain degree of a clearer impartiality would really benefit the story that is told. Of course that, being a personal telling of Brazil's history like this movie is, will inevitably include opinions, which are fairly presented. But I can't help but to think that watching a little more of the other side of the political scandals, against the subjects of the film for example, would really be of benefit - not only to the movie to be it's best and completest version it can be (by showing how complicated "choosing a side" can be), but concomitantly inviting a wider public that can watch and rate it fairly, and discuss more easily by having both sides widely expressed.

The second lacking, in a way, is the proposal of many unanswered questions. Probably it is intentional. Maybe by the fact that the story told in this documentary isn't yet completed in reality, and most of the questions are still unanswerable today; or maybe because of the willingness of the director to portray this political scenery in a personal way, proposing that the narrator wants to show it hasn't means to respond to what will happen. Either way, some answers would enrich, I think, the narrative.

Being a Brazilian myself, with a burning love for cinema, getting impressed by the quality of filmmaking and real moments, portrayed in a production from where I come from, was a really awesome feeling - although this film has a bit too much filming of Brasilia's buildings and beauty-shots. The technical aspects of the film are impressive, even more by the content of rare moments of our recent history - a feeling of "being there" I don't get since watching Poitras' Academy-awarded "Citizenfour".

It's really worth it to watch this film, even if you disagree with the points presented. To admire the handling of a great filmmaker, that has great patience and structure to tell a perspective. This movie is a bright sign in the future of brazilian cinema.