Brazilian Documentary “The Edge of Democracy” Could be Oscar Material

By Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – “The Edge of Democracy”, a documentary released this week by Netflix Brasil, following the “behind the scenes” of power during the rise and fall of the PT under the command of Dilma Rousseff and recounting the steps leading to the former president’s impeachment, may be nominated for an Oscar.

IndieWire is among the most prominent evaluation tools for cinema and series in the U.S. and has released a special review on the documentary. “The Edge of Democracy” is one of the five documentaries released so far that are favored to be nominated for the most prestigious award in the film industry.

The site, however, notes that we are still in June and other documentaries are planned to be released in the second half of the year which could hinder the plans for “The Edge of Democracy”.

Nonetheless, the site states that this is an engrossing and serious film that provides the viewers with an ample perspective of what has been happening in Brazilian politics over the past two decades.

The film itself has been undergoing all kinds of criticism among the Brazilian public. Since its release, the documentary has received praise from those who are most aligned with the spectrum of the Brazilian political left, while it is the target of harsh criticism from members of the conservative right.

The production was rated 3,5 out of 5,0 by IndieWire. The rating is regarded as one of the highest of the year in the documentary category.

In IMDB (Internet Movie Database), one of the world’ s major sites that allow viewers to rate films, series, and even soap operas, “The Edge of Democracy” was scored by 1324 people and is rated 7.5 out of 10.

The Metacritic, on the other hand, a website focused on collecting reviews from the main critics in the USA, has rated the production with an average of 81 (Universal acclaim), resulting from 12 reviews by American television journalism professionals.

Among the reviews in Metacritic are those by Variety, the major U.S. magazine focused on reviewing drama film productions, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times, all of which awarded the documentary a rating of 90.

The Guardian, the British newspaper, and The Hollywood Reporter, the American site, rated “The Edge of Democracy” at 80.