“The Edge of Democracy” Loses Oscar to Obama-backed Documentary

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Had it won, this would have been Brazil’s first Oscar in the documentary category. In addition to “The Edge of Democracy”, “American Factory” beat titles such as the Syria-based films “For Sama” and “The Cave”, as well as “Honeyland”, from North Macedonia.

“American Factory” recounts the arrival of a Chinese factory and its super-obedient workers to a city in the interior of the United States. In her award talk, director Julia Reichert emphasized the courage of her fellow female nominees and praised the gender for providing stories from places as diverse as Brazil and Macedonia. “Workers of the world, unite!”, called out the filmmaker.

On Twitter, Petra echoed her colleague’s speech. “May the workers of the world unite, as Karl and Julia Reichert, from ‘American Factory’, wrote.

“American Factory” had already won several prizes in the festival circuit, including best direction at Sundance and independent film at the Gotham Awards.

The Oscar was handed out by actor Mark Ruffalo, known for his political and environmental activism.

Petra Costa wore red on the carpet

In red on the Awards’ red carpet, Petra stressed that “the healing of Brazil depends on the vote of each one”.

“I believe that this is not the Brazilian soul, we can deal with the differences, but this hatred is not part of our nature. Brazil’s healing depends on everyone’s vote. I can’t stand any more people saying that politics is all the same. That is the secret to perpetuating inequalities. Each person’s vote matters. We have to stop the progress of fundamentalism,” she said.

Nomination surrounded by controversy

The nomination for the world’s top film award came surrounded by controversy in a Brazil that is extremely polarized by political issues. Last week, the Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic (SECOM) through its official social media channel, wrote that Petra was an “anti-Brazilian militant” who would be “defaming the country’s image abroad”. The posts were published in Portuguese and English.

TV host Pedro Bial also sparked controversy by criticizing “The Edge of Democracy”, distributed worldwide by Netflix.

“It’s a movie by a girl telling her mother that she did everything right, that she’s there following her mother’s orders and inspiration, we’re left-wing, we’re good, we didn’t do anything, we don’t have to engage in self-criticism. It was the bad guys in the market, these ugly people, white men, who hurt us and took away our power, because the PT has always been wonderful and Lula is incredible,” complained the journalist, accused of sexism for his speech.

A film critic for UOL, Roberto Sadovski considers the film to be one of the brightest moments of Brazilian cinema in 2019.

“The Edge of Democracy” emerges more as a manifesto than as a documentary, which is fitting, since the director, more than any other Brazilian filmmaker, holds the credentials to make this journey through time and behind the scenes of power. The granddaughter of the founder of the construction company Andrade Gutiérrez, she is part of the same elite that has always called the shots in national politics – the “owners of Brazil”, comfortable in fortunes passed down from generation to generation, ubiquitous in agribusiness, in construction companies, in the country’s financial structure”, he analyzes in his review.

Source: UOL