Battle

Two documentary filmmakers in Brazil attempt to conduct a street interview with journalist Marilia Melhado. It’s election time, and everyone’s on tenterhooks about who’s going to win the second round. Will it be right-winger Jair Bolsonaro or the Labor Party’s Fernando Haddad? While a diverse cross-section of the population passes by in the background, Melhado expresses concern about the level of political polarization in the country. Is this still a democratic society in which people with differing opinions can coexist in harmony? Are we still listening to each other? These are the subjects Melhado is trying to discuss, when she is rudely interrupted by Bolsonaro supporters. A heated exchange follows, and they are joined be an ever-growing number of passersby—a strikingly large number of whom are wearing political badges. The prevailing idea seems to be this: agree with Bolsonaro or get out. This bizarre dispute culminates in physical pushing and pulling, and Melhado herself literally shedding tears for the fate of her country. A tragicomic illustration of the absurdity of contemporary politics, brought into painfully sharp focus in a single unplanned shot. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)