The arrest of former President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s capital is making headlines worldwide, and thrusting an Oscar-contending film into the spotlight.

Federal police took Bolsonaro into custody on Saturday after Brazil’s Supreme Court determined there was evidence he was planning to escape house arrest and possibly flee to a foreign embassy days before he was set to begin a 27-year prison sentence. He was convicted in September of trying to stage a military coup to hold onto power after he lost reelection in 2022.

Apocalypse in the Tropics , directed by Petra Costa , shows how the rise of Christian nationalism in Brazil helped propel Bolsonaro, a far-right populist, to the presidency in 2019 after evangelicals leading the movement fastened onto him as their preferred candidate

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