The Edge of Democracy (2019) - full transcript

[car rattling]

[indistinct chatter]

[man 1, in Portuguese] Careful there.

[reporter 1] No one expected
such a quick arrest.

It took everyone by surprise.

[reporter 2, in English] A stunning blow

for a man
who was elected president twice

and left office with an approval rating
over 80%.

In fact,
he was already planning his comeback.

He's leading in the polls
for presidential elections next year.

[reporter 3, in Portuguese]
The deadlineset for ex-president Lula



for Lula to serve prison time

for the triplex apartment charges
has ended.

[men chanting] He will not leave!
He will not leave!

He will not leave! He will not leave!

He will not leave!

Where is he?

-[Lula] Maria.
-[man 2] Oh, my God.

Maria... Come on, no crying!

Hey, Luiza Erundina!

Look how strong she is. [kisses]

-Bye.
-[Luiza kisses] Lula, I'm with you.

[crowd chanting] Lula in prison!

Lula in prison! Lula in prison!

[all chanting]
Out with PT (Workers' Party)!



Out with PT!

[man 3 over megaphone] If that crook
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stays free,

-he'll lead the country into a civil war!
-[sirens wailing in distance]

[reporter 4] For now,
there's no solution yet.

Many patrol cars,
many police vehicles are approaching.

[crowd chanting] Don't let them jail him!
Circle in, circle in!

Don't let them jail him!

[gentle piano music playing]

[narrator, in English] Imagine a country
that took its name from a tree.

Brazilwood.

Its red ink
led it to the brink of extinction.

Only the name remains.

A country where more slaves died
than were born.

It was cheaper
to import another one from Africa.

Where every rebellion
was brutally crushed,

and the Republic
proclaimed by military generals.

A country that,
after 21 years of dictatorship,

established its democracy

and became an inspiration
to much of the world.

It seemed Brazil
had finally broken its curse.

But here we are.

With one president impeached,

another imprisoned,

and the nation moving rapidly
towards its authoritarian past.

Today, as I feel the ground opening,

I fear our democracy was nothing

but a short-lived dream.

[woman 1, in Portuguese] Blow it. Blow it!
Don't do it with your finger.

Look, Aninha!

-[girl] Blow it! Ana, like this.
-[woman 2] Blow it, Petra.

[woman 3] Put on some fun music!
Ana Petra loves it.

[Petra, in English] When I was born,
we couldn't vote for president.

[young Petra babbles]

The military dictatorship
was completing its 20th year.

One of my first memories,

I'm on top of my mother's shoulders

seeing a sea of people screaming.

[crowd clamoring on TV]

[man 1, in Portuguese] Four, five mill!
We want to vote for president of Brazil!

[Petra, in English] Brazilian democracy
and I are almost the same age,

and I thought that in our 30s

we would both be standing on solid ground.

-[man 2, in Portuguese] Direct elections!
-[crowd] Now!

-[man 2] Direct elections!
-[crowd] Now!

-[man 2] Direct elections!
-[crowd] Now!

[crowd singing Brazilian national anthem]

[Petra, in English] This is my mother.

She and my father
had spent the '70s in hiding,

fighting
against the military dictatorship.

I WANT TO VOTE FOR PRESIDENT

[film projector whirring]

[Petra] After briefly going to prison,

they moved to the south of Brazil.

For a decade, their family
had no idea where they lived.

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra] Disguised as a salesman
and a teacher,

they organized workers and students
against the regime.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra] Many of their movement
were tortured, others, killed.

Amongst them, their leader, Pedro Pomar.

I was named Petra in his memory.

[band playing military march]

[Petra]
And the democratic revolution didn't come.

-[crowd clamoring]
-[high-pitched ringing]

[dog barks]

[Petra] But a shift happens

when massive strikes would give
the dictatorship a strong blow.

[man, in Portuguese]
Our union is under siege!

We're being horribly oppressed!

Our union is surrounded
by military trucks.

[Petra, in English]
The strikes are led by this man.

A steelworker and union leader,

Lula is 33 years old in the image.

He only became interested in politics

after he visited Congress
for the first time

and realized that, of the 443 congressmen,

only two were of the working class.

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
Lula! Lula! Lula!

Lula! Lula! Lula!

Lula! Lula!

[Lula over loudspeaker] We all know

that around the world,

workers never got anything...

without struggle, without perseverance,

and without fighting until the end.

[crowd cheers]

There's work to be done
in neighborhoods,

there's work to be done at bus stops.

And more importantly,

no one goes to the factory doors!

[crowd cheers and applauds]

[air horn blows]

[crowd chanting] Lula! Lula! Lula!

[rhythmic instrumental music playing]

[Petra, in English]
My mother said that she saw in him

the embodiment of all she had longed for:

workers becoming political actors,

opening the way
towards a democratic path.

And in 1980,

he leads the creation
of the Workers' Party.

[in Portuguese] We're thinking

of creating a political party

to see if the workers,
at least somewhere in the world,

get the chance to be represented
with dignity.

[Petra, in English]
Runs for president in '89...

[in Portuguese] To end inflation,
we'll have to attack it at its roots,

and that's the bankers, the businessmen.

[Petra, in English] ...and loses.

In '94...

[in Portuguese] For the low paid worker,
the priority is a pay raise.

[Petra, in English] ...and loses.
In '98...

[in Portuguese] It's time for a government
that guarantees economic stability,

supporting all who want to plant,
produce, and create jobs.

[Petra, in English] ...and loses.
Until, in 2002, he decides to compromise.

[in Portuguese]
...to say also to the businessmen,

that Brazil really needs them.

[man, in Portuguese]
Marília's giving Petra instructions.

[in English] Feminist voting here, huh?

[in Portuguese] Her daughter's
political education.

We're choosing a woman for Congress.

[in English] For the first time,
voting in a historical election.

[camera shutter clicks]

[indistinct chatter]

-[in Portuguese] Bye.
-[man 2] Bye.

[passengers cheering]

[Lula] Brazil gained wealth
from the mills

and sugarcane plantations

in early colonial times.

But it didn't beat hunger.

It declared its independence
and abolished slavery,

but it didn't beat hunger.

It knew wealth from gold mines
in Minas Gerais

and coffee plantations
in the Paraiba Valley,

but it didn't beat hunger.

It became industrialized...

[Petra, in English]
I was 19 when Lula got elected,

and I remember the excitement
that wasn't just in me.

It had taken over the streets.

[Lula, in Portuguese]
While there's a single Brazilian

suffering from hunger,

we'll have plenty of reason

to feel shame.

[Petra, in English]
I also remember the fear,

the disbelief
that they would let him take office,

and the hope
that the country's dire injustices

would finally be addressed.

[Lula, in Portuguese] We're starting today

a new chapter in Brazil's history.

Not as a submissive nation,

giving up its sovereignty;

not as an unfair nation,

passively watching
the suffering of the poor;

but as a proud, noble nation,

bravely affirming itself in the world

as a nation of all its people,

with no distinction of class,
ethnic background, sex or creed.

Today is the day.

Brazil encounters itself again.

[audience cheers]

[instrumental music playing]

[Petra, in English]
Watch how long it takes for him

to cross this Congress.

A sculptor whose material is human clay.

These hugs reflect both his charisma
and his decision to compromise.

Elected with 61% of the votes,

he still has a problem.

His coalition has less than half
of the seats in Congress.

His party is soon caught
in a corruption scandal called Mensalão,

accused of buying votes
to secure a majority.

His chief of staff resigns,
and, soon after,

Lula's other possible successors
also fall.

Lula manages to distance himself
from the scandal,

but it would be a cloud
that would follow him.

He then resorts to a new alliance
with the most powerful party in Congress,

the PMDB.

I voted for Lula

with the hope that he would
ethically reform the political system,

and here he was, repeating practices
that he had always criticized

and forming alliances
with Brazil's old oligarchy.

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
Lula! Lula! Lula!

[Petra, in English] But, at the same time,

I was seeing 20 million people
leaving poverty.

The program the government created,
Bolsa Família,

provided around 30 dollars per month
to each of Brazil's poorest families.

[crowd clamors]

[Petra] The number of Afro-Brazilians
in university triples,

unemployment rates
reach the lowest number in history...

and while
the 2008 financial crisis spreads,

Brazil rises from 13th
to seventh-largest economy in the world.

[indistinct chatter]

[man, in Portuguese]
The first thing he did

was put food
on the table of the poor worker,

the small farmer...

I have two daughters in college,

thanks to government programs.

The current government
is prioritizing racist quotas

against white people in our country.

We've arrived at the end...
We've arrived at the end of everything.

He was a big letdown.
He was of the working class

and could've made this country way better.

He did a good job at first...

then got lost to the corruption that...

rules this country.

Today I have a home.

My sister got her nursing degree,

my daughter's doing nutrition.

We needed the Bolsa Família program,

and thanks to it, we've advanced.

We're off the Bolsa now,
but we got better because of it.

I love this man from my heart.

[Obama, in English] This is my man,
right there. Love this guy!

[indistinct chatter]

The most popular politician on Earth.

[interpreting in Portuguese]

[Petra, in English] The discovery of one
of the largest oil reserves

in the world, which would be used
to invest in social programs,

was a blessing...

[men shouting excitedly]

-...that would soon turn into a curse.
-[camera shutter clicking]

[man, in Portuguese] And now
we have the chance to talk

with a special guest.

The economist who started young,

working first as Municipal Secretary,

then as State Secretary,

Minister of Energy, Chief of Staff...

[Petra, in English] Here,
Lula is presenting his anointed successor,

Dilma Rousseff.

[in Portuguese] I brought Dilma here
so she can smile for you.

[woman] Congratulations, Minister!
Congratulations.

[Petra, in English]
Dilma was a former guerilla fighter

imprisoned during the dictatorship.

In this picture, she's being questioned
after 22 days of torture.

While her interrogators hide their faces,

she sits up high.

[Dilma, in Portuguese] The art
of resisting torture lies in thinking,

"It's just one more minute."

If you think it'll be five

or 20, it's too hard to bear.

So you think, "One more minute, two..."

and keep tricking yourself, on and on,

trying to overcome

what's inherently human, which is pain.

There's already an 11% difference!

DILMA ROUSSEFF ELECTED
BRAZIL'S FIRST FEMALE PRESIDENT

They just announced
that Dilma was elected president!

[all exclaim]

[woman 1] Our President!

-[woman 2] Wait, our president's here!
-[Lula] My president. She is great.

[Dilma on TV] To all my Brazilian brothers
and sisters...

-Hey, President...
-You invented this!

You deserve this. [kisses]

-[indistinct chatter]
-[crowd cheering]

[fireworks popping loudly]

[crowd roars]

[woman] Look!

[whistles blowing]

[energetic piano music playing]

[Petra, in English] I was born in a world
my parents wanted to transform.

And I was becoming an adult

in a world closer
to what we had dreamt of.

It felt like a change of symbols,

of possibilities.

[Petra, in Portuguese] Mom,
how did you feel when she was elected

or chosen?

I felt...

like I identified.

More and more, as...

she's a woman, from my state,
a militant...

We went to the same schools,
but at different times.

We were both imprisoned in the same jail.

I, for a shorter time, of course.

And mostly,

she was there, for me,

bearing the brunt of it all.

[Dilma] It's okay,
I managed to turn it on.

[classical music playing on stereo]

[indistinct chatter]

[Dilma] You were arrested before.

-Yes, before.
-I was arrested later.

-[Petra's mom] Then I went--
-You were arrested...

-[Petra's mom] Around Ibiúna.
-You were arrested in '68.

-Because of the student Congress.
-[Dilma] Was it '68?

-Yes, in October.
-[Dilma] Right.

-I was arrested in January, in 1970.
-[Petra's mom] January '70.

[Petra, in English] One year
after my first interview with Dilma,

I took my mother to meet her...

as they had much in common, but never met.

[in Portuguese] Certain things,
for me, are very difficult.

What happens is that one can never...

be completely anonymous again.

There's a huge freedom in being anonymous.

Immense.

Which we had when we were in hiding.

That's the thing.

The immense feeling of freedom,
which I never had again.

-[Petra's mom] For a short time.
-For a short time.

Yes, but it's immense, isn't it?

[Petra] When did you realize
Lula was choosing you?

[Dilma] No, I didn't want that!

It's my...

attachment...

to freedom.

But this was very well-known.

[Petra] And he insisted on it?

He doesn't speak.

He does politics
as a fait accompli. That's Lula.

Today he talks more.

Hey!

[man] Hey, Mr. President, Mrs. Marisa.

The last time we go out of the elevator.

Saying bye to the palace

and going home, to my apartment

in São Bernardo do Campo.

[Petra, in English]
This is the last day of Lula

and his first lady, Marisa, in power

after serving two terms.

[speaking indistinctly in Portuguese]

Once a First Lady, always a First Lady.

[Petra, in English] These images,
and others that will come later,

were shot by his official photographer,
Ricardo Stuckert.

[Lula, in Portuguese]
I'll take a picture of you.

[camera shutter clicking rapidly]

[Petra, in English] He was leaving office
with an 87% approval rating,

one of the highest
of any president in the world.

[Ricardo, in Portuguese]
Take one of yourself.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd chanting] Dilma! Dilma! Dilma!

Dilma! Dilma!

[Petra, in English] Today, looking back,

I realize the excitement of having elected
our first female president...

blinded me to something else
that is happening in this scene.

The precipice that exists between Dilma

and her tense vice president.

[muffled cheering, footsteps echo]

[Petra] Temer, on the right,

has his gestures controlled

as if he's moving inside a box.

He interlocks his fingers
and pulls his hands,

as if he wanted to separate them.

It was an arranged marriage.

Since it was the first time
Dilma had run for office,

she depended even more than Lula
on the alliance with the PMDB

to be able to govern.

The PMDB's condition was for Temer,

a conservative politician
and the leader of the party,

to be vice president.

When asked about the alliance,
Lula answered,

"If Jesus came to Brazil,

he would have to make an alliance
even with Judas."

I wonder if anyone else imagined
that this man,

who had to go such a long way
to be in the picture...

five years later would want
to be in the picture without her.

[crowd continues cheering]

[Petra] But this isn't just
a story of betrayal.

If the climate in the tropics
was at the peak of optimism,

in a few years,

the foundations of democracy itself
would begin to crack.

My grandmother filmed these images
of Brasília under construction.

A decade before, my grandfather
had started a construction company,

but he didn't participate
in the building of the city,

fearing that the president would fall
before it was finished.

President Juscelino, who my mother,
this little girl with the ponytail,

saw briefly when he was governor
of her state,

dreamt Brasília as the capital
of his vision of a modern Brazil.

In the middle of the country,

they drew a city that during the day
would work happily,

in an atmosphere
of dignified monumentality.

An utopic city
that would house the dream of democracy.

At its heart,
the two houses of Congress.

The lower house looking up,

open to the desires of society,

and the upper house closed in,

meditating in deep thought.

But the perfect architecture
forgot a main ingredient of democracy:

the people,

who were ever more isolated from power.

Far from public pressure,

the political class perpetuated
an age-old system of corruption

that would become the cement
that held everything together.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra] And that system
remained untouched,

decade after decade
until came the seismic shift.

-[drums beating]
-[crowd cheering]

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
Power to the people!

To make a new world!
To make a new world!

[Petra, in English] In the current
of Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring

what begins as a small demonstration
against a rise in the bus fare,

with a push of police repression

and the help of the media
and social networks,

grows to become one of the largest
demonstrations in the nation's history.

As the streets suddenly awoke
after 20 years,

with a series of mixed demands,

something in our social fabric
started to change,

giving birth to the deep division
that would rip us apart.

-[weapon blasting]
-[man screams]

[crowd shouting]

[Petra] After ten years in power,

the red flags of the Workers' Party
no longer mobilize people's dreams.

They start to become the target.

[all chanting in Portuguese] The people,
united! No political parties here!

The people, united!
No political parties here!

The people, united!
No political parties here!

[chanting] Democracy! Democracy!

[Petra, in English] From this moment on,
nothing would be the same.

[Petra] But before I go forward,
I have to go back.

Just before these protests,

Dilma's popularity had reached
such a high peak

that she did a more radical move
than Lula had ever dared to.

She challenged the bankers
reducing the interest rate.

[in Portuguese] It's unacceptable
that Brazil,

with one of the most solid,
profitable economic systems,

has one of the highest interest rates
in the world.

The financial sector has no means
of explaining this perverse logic.

[Petra, in English]
But contrary to her expectation,

the economy starts to slow down

and the protests have a damaging effect
on the government.

[in Portuguese] Research polls revealed
that Dilma's popularity dropped

by 27 points

in these three weeks of protests.

We truly need more efficient ways
of fighting corruption.

[Petra, in English] Trying
to regain credibility for her government,

Dilma fast-tracks
a series of anti-corruption laws

that allow a major investigation to erupt.

A tsunami that would soon destabilize
the political system.

Operation Car Wash investigates Petrobras,

the giant national oil company

that is so strategically important

that even the NSA
made it a target for surveillance.

Soon, investigators unveil
a web of corruption

tying together Petrobras,
construction companies,

and the main political parties.

[in Portuguese] In each Petrobras contract

with each of its big suppliers,

and we're talking
about billion-dollar contracts here,

there was a fixed bribe

of one to three percent. Hmm?

And this didn't happen once or twice,

it was systemic.

[Petra, in English]
The man behind the operation

is a federal judge
from the south of Brazil.

Trained in the United States and inspired
by an Italian corruption investigation,

Sérgio Moro learns how to use the media
in his favor.

HE SAVED THE YEAR!

[Petra] And a significant part
of the media

unquestioningly embraces his narrative.

Since the operation keeps suspects in jail
without trial

until they denounce
more important figures,

Car Wash soon becomes
Brazil's true-life crime thriller.

[in Portuguese] It's not a turning point
with state-run companies.

It didn't start with Lula.

-It's a tradition.
-[man] So it has always--

It has always happened.

It's like quicksand.

Once in,
it's almost impossible to get out.

Slush funds became something
nobody saw as a crime.

A politician who says
he didn't get slush funds is lying.

[Petra, in English]
Once the businessmen start talking,

politicians of several parties
begin to be arrested,

including members of the Workers' Party.

[door slams]

[Petra] As the new election approaches,

many blame Dilma for not interfering
with the investigation.

A move that would lead to her downfall.

This is Aécio Neves,

grandson of a president
and Dilma's opposition candidate

during the 2014 election.

Our families have a link.

His mother married
my grandfather's cousin.

Behind the scenes,

a part of the construction companies
and the PMDB

switch their allegiance to Aécio

in the belief that his interests
were more aligned with their own.

But Dilma wins by a narrow margin.

It was the fourth time that his party
had lost a presidential election

to the Workers' Party.

[speaking indistinctly]

[Petra] And Aécio Neves
does not accept the results.

His party asks for an election audit,

and when the results don't change,
he starts defending Dilma's impeachment.

[in Portuguese] We didn't lose
the election to a political party.

We lost it to a criminal organization

that installed itself
in the heart of the nation!

But ready yourselves!

Soon we won't be the opposition.
We'll be the government!

Let's do it! The PSDB's the future!

Long live Brazil, long live the PSDB,

victory is ours!

[Petra, in English] I wonder if Aécio knew
the dark forces he would be awakening

by questioning the rules
of the democratic game.

[speaking indistinctly]

ANNULMENT OF THE 2014 ELECTIONS
IMPEACHMENT NOW

LET'S TAKE TO THE STREETS ON THE 12TH
FOR THE SAKE OF BRAZIL

[Petra] Right-wing groups begin to travel
amongst the social media algorithms,

galvanizing the public's
anti-corruption mood

and transforming it into an insurrection
against Dilma and Lula.

BRAZIL WILL TAKE TO THE STREETS
TO DEMAND IMPEACHMENT

CHECK OUT EVENTS IN SÃO PAULO
THIS SATURDAY: PROTEST ON PAULISTA

[Petra] And the media does its part,

normalizing the aggressive aspects
of these protests

as if they were a soccer game
no one should miss.

[in Portuguese] This is patriotism!

[reporter] ...locked in a cell,

there are people dressed
as the ex-president.

[Petra, in English]
After a global drop in commodity prices

and a series of economic mistakes,

the country enters into recession.

Dilma then breaks her campaign promises

and implements an austerity program.

Unemployment rises to eight percent,

over four million Brazilians cross
into poverty,

and the government's approval rate
drops to nine percent.

THE END?

[woman, in Portuguese] Fuck you, Dilma!

[Petra, in English]
And it is in this atmosphere

that the Congress accepts
the impeachment request against Dilma.

[Dilma on TV, in Portuguese]
Today I received with indignation

the decision of the president
of the Lower House...

-[man] Fuck you, Dilma, you crook!
-...to accept the impeachment request

against a mandate

democratically given to me
by the Brazilian people.

The reasons for this request

are unfounded and inconsistent.

I have not committed any illicit acts.

There is no suspicion
of fiscal wrongdoing around me.

I have no offshore accounts.

[Petra, in English]
But one more piece was missing

for the impeachment to take off.

For the climax of Car Wash,

Moro authorizes the police to detain Lula

and force him to testify,

even though the former president
had never resisted questioning.

Suspecting Lula was involved
in the corruption scheme,

investigators look for evidence:

an apartment allegedly gifted to him
by a construction company

implicated in the Car Wash scandal.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra]
Although there's no formal accusation,

the spectacle of Lula
being taken by force by the police

creates an impression of guilt.

[in Portuguese] Take it easy!
Take it easy!

[crowd chanting]
Lula! Lula! Lula! Lula!

[Petra, in English] The police raided
his office, the house of his son

and his home.

[in Portuguese] So let me tell you, dear.

I just met with Dilma,

and I'll be the new chief of staff.

Okay?

Well, I'll take office...

I'll take office... uh, next Tuesday.

My nomination's today,
but I take office on Tuesday.

[crickets chirping]

[on recording in Portuguese]

[Lula] Uh-huh.

[reporter 1] Today the crisis
of Dilma's government

reached its peak.

[reporter 2] Confidentiality was lifted

on the 24th phase
of Car Wash investigations,

and ex-President Lula's conversations

were made public.

[Petra, in English] For some,
this audio leak was proof

that Dilma was giving Lula
his ministerial papers

so he could avoid detention.

For others,
proof that Moro was using the law

to take Lula out of the political game.

[in Portuguese] A tapped phone call

between President Dilma and Lula!

Your Honor speaks highly of the USA.

Imagine in the USA

a Texas state judge

recording a call
between Bill Clinton and Obama,

and releasing it at prime time

a few hours later!

You know the tapping was illegal

as you gave the order
to stop the wiretap at 11:12 a.m.

The recording was at 1:32 p.m.

By 6:00 p.m., it was on GloboNews.

Can we accept that?

Supreme Justice Minister Teori said

the reasons given by Judge Moro

were not enough
to justify those special measures

taken actually for abusive reasons.

Uh, my decisions are open to criticism.

There's no problem with that.
It's freedom of speech.

Uh, but I can't be accused
of abuse of authority,

as my decisions have been approved

by the higher courts,

unless you're also accusing them.

[crowd chanting] Lula, it's no use crying!

You're in Moro's hands!

Lula, it's no use crying!

[woman]
I'm for Sérgio Moro, do you know why?

Without Moro,

Lula wouldn't be so close
to going to jail.

BYE, DEAR
IN MORO WE TRUST

That's what'll make Brazil change
once and for all.

And when will it change?

First, impeachment. Then, prison.

Then Brazil starts again.

[crowd chanting] Lock Lula up!
Lock Lula up! Lock Lula up!

Lock Lula up!

-[whistles blowing]
-[crowd clamoring]

[crowd chanting] Moro! Moro!

Moro! Moro!

[man 1 over megaphone] We demand
the immediate ousting of the government,

through the intervention
of our armed forces.

Fascists and Communists are the same shit!

[man 2 over megaphone]
Ironically, you bunch of deviants,

it's the Military Police
protecting you, you dumb shit!

[all chanting] Out with PT! Out with PT!

We're pro-freedom, and no one
is taking away our right to say so.

This is absurd!
They're shooting themselves in the foot!

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra, in English]
These were the first images I filmed.

By deafness or blindness,
it was my first contact with this unrest.

It left me asking...

what had shifted...

so that a boy and a girl
have to be removed from a protest

just because they were wearing
the color red?

[crowd cheering]

[Petra, in Portuguese]
Why are you applauding?

'Cause he's been arrested.

-[Petra] Who?
-I don't know, someone from PT.

-[Petra] Why was he arrested?
-Huh?

-[Petra] Why was he arrested?
-'Cause he's fighting

for something we don't want.

[Petra, in English] From this point on,

the country divided
into two irreconcilable parts.

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
There will be no coup!

[Petra, in English]
This is the other side.

[in Portuguese] Fifty-four million votes!

Respect that! There won't be a coup!

Today I can pay
for English classes for my kids.

My mom couldn't afford
to let me go to school!

I can't read or write,
but I can pay for my kids to study!

[Lula] I don't want Aécio voters
to like me.

What I want is for us to learn

how to live in a civilized way
with our differences.

Democracy is the only possibility we have

of making a government
where the people participate!

[crowd chanting] Lula,
warrior of the Brazilian people!

Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people!

I was moved, Dilma...

I've been to many events,

but the people were so happy today.

I had to speak from both sides,

first on one side of the truck,
then the other.

We need to do more rallies.

It was wonderful. You can sleep soundly.

Sleep well. [stammers]
The sleep of the just.

You're being the victim
of an unprecedented sabotage.

It's-- It's unprecedented.

[news anchor] In a major turnaround today,

the Supreme Court judge
issued an injunction

suspending the nomination
of Lula as chief of staff.

[reporter] The judge sees the intent
by the former president

to obstruct investigations against him
in Operation Car Wash.

[woman] The snakes
that seized power...

[man] Snake!

...are taking advantage

of human weaknesses

to perpetuate themselves.

Do we want to serve a snake?

[crowd] No!

Brazil's not the snake republic!

[crowd cheers] No!

[Petra, in English]
This woman on stage, Janaina Paschoal,

is a lawyer and one of the authors
of the impeachment request against Dilma.

[in Portuguese] "Janaina,
God doesn't give snakes wings."

And I say to him,

"Father, sometimes a snake grows wings.

When that happens,

God sends legions

to cut the snake's wings!"

[crowd cheers]

Lula must be arrested, that dirty crook.

The only one left.

Against fiscal pedaling
and Dilma's electoral maneuvers.

She ruined Brazil, man!

Nobody proved she stole.

-Dilma was a mother to these guys.
-Not to me.

Dilma was a mother to all here,
and they're trashing her.

Military intervention
is the medicine for this country.

He's a lot older

and recalls that in the time
of the dictatorship

things were a lot better.

Generals, where are you?

Military intervention is the remedy.

Your relatives weren't killed
during the dictatorship!

-[man 1] Were yours?
-I know people who lost friends!

[man 1] They didn't.
That's what they want you to believe.

You have no idea what it was like!

This government that wants to take over
belongs to the elite, Globo TV,

businessmen, bankers,
landowners, Americans,

who want the Amazon and Petrobras oil,

rich Europeans...

Brazilians had some chance.

Dilma and PT left us the crumbs.

Now we won't even have that.

[Petra, in English It was the first time
in more than 20 years

that most of the country
was paying attention

to what was happening in Congress.

Our destiny was being decided
behind closed doors

by 600 politicians
I knew almost nothing about.

[indistinct chatter]

After this commission,
the Lower House would vote

on whether to approve
the impeachment motion.

Then, the final trial would take place
in the Senate.

[man 1, in Portuguese]
...it isn't about the so-called

creative accounting decrees only.

Unemployment, recession,

cuts in social programs,

inflation, rise in prices,

loss of buying power...

[Petra, in English]
All I could hear was, on one side,

how Dilma was responsible
for all the country's problems,

and, on the other,

how her offense did not constitute
an impeachable crime.

[in Portuguese] What's wanted
is impeachment. It matters little

if I rip up the Constitution
or violate democracy.

I maintain

that in a country historically marked,
maybe since its discovery,

by structural and systemic corruption,

it's absurd...

that a legitimately elected president

be deposed for an accounting issue

that's been accepted by the courts

without her being accused
in the process

of stealing one cent.

That's why this impeachment process

shouldn't be called impeachment.

If it does happen,
it should be called a coup.

The coup of April, 2016.

[Petra, in English] At this moment,
almost half of Brazil, including me,

thought that Dilma
was being impeached for corruption.

After hours inside this commission,

I understood that the actual accusation

was that she had delayed the transfer
of funds to public banks,

in a kind of creative accounting
to cover budget gaps.

The debate was not
whether the government had done it--

because it had,

and to a higher degree
than all governments before hers--

but whether this was a reasonable cause
to impeach a president.

[in Portuguese] I don't think impeachment
should be an electoral tool.

This seems to be the case here.

An unfounded impeachment

borders on a coup.

Brazil is not a banana republic
that can remove a president

just because he's not popular.

Those who regret their vote
have to make up for it next time.

That's the logic of politics.

[Petra, in English] But nine months later,
Eduardo Cunha would change his mind.

The most powerful man in Congress, Cunha,

allegedly helped finance the campaigns
of dozens of congressmen,

forming a type of private army

that in turn elected him
president of the Lower House.

He was investigated for hiding millions
of dollars in bribes in a Swiss bank,

Feeling targeted, he had decided
to break with the government.

[in Portuguese]
The government doesn't swallow me.

It has a personal hatred of me.

I'll ask in the PMDB assembly

that they break with the government.
That they leave the government.

And I, as of now,

am breaking with the government.

[Petra, in English] Then, he asks Dilma
and the Workers' Party

to help save his mandate in Congress.

After weeks of debate, they refuse.

And, in retaliation,

he immediately opens
impeachment proceedings against Dilma.

[Petra, in Portuguese]
Many got disappointed with PT

after its alliance with PMDB.

Especially after Cunha enters the game.

Do you regret that?

As for the disappointment:

to govern,
you need a majority in Congress.

Those disappointed must ask,

"Why didn't we elect our congressmen?

Leaving it so that,

for a two-thirds majority in Congress,

20 parties were needed."

Our mistake was not realizing

that right-wing supremacy was growing.

The right-wing wasn't so strong
on my re-election in 2014,

when we made the alliance with PMDB.

When does it assert itself? When Cunha--

Because he's the boss, not Temer.

When Cunha gets elected president
of the Lower House.

He arranges the whole structure,

he sets up the coup,
he sets up the siege.

I have to tell you,

I didn't govern in 2015.

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra] In your opinion,
what were Dilma's greatest mistakes?

She never bonded.

There are congressmen from PT who claim--
Just yesterday I met

with left-wing congressmen.

They said Dilma never gave them a hug,
never shook their hands.

[Petra] So, Dilma's being removed

because she didn't give enough hugs?

-No, not hugs.
-[Petra] In a way.

For her coldness, her political ineptness.

Yeah.

I can also say that Dilma was honest.

But a good cook

is not one who cooks to her own taste.

She cooks to please those
who will be eating.

She doesn't treat people well,
but this is secondary.

If the economy was doing well,
this wouldn't matter.

[Petra] So,
the main reason is the economy?

Of course!

She fought with Congress, the Judiciary,

the Treasury.

She fought with the market,
she fought with her voters.

[Petra] When do you think
the fall of Dilma's government starts?

[man 1] In 2013,

Dilma spoke on Labor Day,
saying that the rich,

the bankers
would have to pay for the crisis.

She poked the bear with a short stick.

The elites then started to hammer away
at Dilma's popularity.

The economic indicators began changing.

I haven't spoken to him since,
so I don't know.

We'll release a statement so--

[man 2] This is Petra,
she's making a documentary--

[Aécio kisses]

[Petra] Would you give us an interview?

We'll make an appointment, okay?

[Petra, in English] Unfortunately,
Aécio never gave me this interview.

[sighs]

[in Portuguese] Hello, my man. Yesterday,
I met with congressmen all day long.

Things are really bad.

Very bad.
Bad for the impeachment commission,

bad for the Lower House vote. You know?

It's not bad with the enemies.
It's bad with the allies.

Did she or didn't she?
Was she doing budget maneuvers or not?

Is it a crime or isn't it? You know?

So, I said, look, our economists
will forever defend her,

and theirs will attack her.

Her lawyers will defend her,
and the prosecutors will accuse her.

One senator attacking, and the other--

Why don't they create
an international commission

with specialists in public funds
and ask for an official report?

Because this is like religion.

It's endless.

Dilma will die saying
she didn't commit crimes,

and Aécio will die saying she did.

[indistinct chatter]

[screeches]

The pro-impeachment protesters
will be on this side, and the--

Over there.

And the anti-impeachment protesters
on that side.

The right-wing will be on the right side
and the left-wing on the left?

Uh, I wouldn't--
I wouldn't put it that way.

It depends on the point of reference.

[piano music playing]

[Petra, in English]
My whole family would be

on the right side of this wall...

were it not for a small mutation
that happened in 1964.

The government had just declared

that it would redistribute the land
to the people.

[crowd cheering]

[Petra]
My mother's family entered into despair

and prepared their boxes
to move to California

to escape the Communist threat.

But to their relief,
the military took power

backed by the United States
and celebrated by the media.

Weeks later,

my father left to the United States
with a one-way ticket.

The protests against the Vietnam War

were the first spark to awaken him.

Then, a small bookstore in the Village,

filled with books
of Marx and Erich Fromm...

Two years later, he comes back,

and my mother falls in love with him
at first sight.

First with him,
and then with the revolution.

And that coup that was supposed
to last one year

ended up lasting 20.

I don't know how this should be told.

The fact is that, during the years
that my parents were in hiding,

when their friends were being tortured
and killed,

were the years
that the construction company

my grandfather co-founded...

most grew.

[engine sputtering]

[metal scraping]

[Petra] I see that the story
of this crisis, of this wall,

runs directly through my family.

On one side it's the story
of the establishment

that my grandparents were part of.

On the other,

it's the story of my parents

and the left they dreamt of,
and which is crumbling.

But it's also the story
of a broken country that we're inheriting.

[crowd 1 chanting in Portuguese]
Impeachment! Impeachment!

Impeachment! Impeachment!

Impeachment! Impeachment!

[man 1] Bye, dear!

[crowd 1] ♪ The time is coming! ♪

♪ The day is starting! ♪

♪ And Dilma's leaving! ♪

[vocalizing]

BYE, DEAR

[indistinct chanting]

[crowd 2 chanting] Democracy!

Democracy!

-[crowd 1] Impeachment! Impeachment!
-[crowd 2] Democracy!

-[crowd 1] Impeachment! Impeachment!
-[crowd 2] Democracy!

-[crowd 1] Impeachment! Impeachment!
-[crowd 2] Democracy!

-[crowd 1] Impeachment! Impeachment!
-[crowd 2] Democracy!

Look after our Brazil.

[overlapping prayers]

[man 2] Look after our Brazil.

O Lord,
see us through this bleak moment...

[man 3] "...the floors shall be full
of wheat,

and the vats shall overflow
with new wine and oil.

And I will restore to you the years
that the locust hath eaten,

the cankerworm and the palmerworm..."

"...the waters shall overflow..."

[congressman on TV]
That's why, Mr. President,

for the people of my state,
for Rio and Brazil,

I vote yes for the impeachment.

[congressman 2 on TV]
In the name of my two kids,

along with my wife,

we form the family in Brazil

that these crooks want to destroy

with a proposition
to change children's gender

and learn about sex at six years old...

I vote yes!

[crowd cheers]

For all my family...

-For my family.
-[congressman 3] ...for my family.

I'd like to thank my aunt,
who took care of me when I was little.

For evangelicals
from all over the nation!

For God's people,

I vote yes.

[crowd cheers]

Considering that our president
didn't commit any crimes,

unlike most here under investigation,

who shame this house...

In the name of those
who hunger for justice...

I'm embarrassed to participate
in this hoax,

this indirect election

conducted by a thief,

urged by a traitor and conspirator,

supported by torturers, cowards,

political illiterates, and sell-outs.

This sexist hoax.

I vote no to the coup,
and sleep on it, you bastards!

[man on TV] Congressman Eduardo Cunha,
how do you vote?

[Cunha] May God have mercy on this nation.

I vote yes.

[audience cheers]

A show trial was established!

With an inquisitor at its head,
Eduardo Cunha.

You're a gangster.

-I vote no!
-[man 2] Congressman Glauber Braga...

Dilma! You're an embarrassment!

Embarrassment! Embarrassment! Yes!

[crowd cheering]

What an honor destiny reserved for me

to use my voice

as a cry of hope

for millions of Brazilians.

That's why I say to Brazil,
"Yes to the future!"

[Cunha] Voted yes: 367 congressmen.

The proceedings against the president

are now authorized

for crimes of responsibility.

-[crowd cheering]
-[whistles blowing]

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter] Many representatives
are leaving in tears.

-[man 1] Good job, Mr. President.
-[woman 1] Congratulations, Cunha!

[group chanting] Goodbye, PT! Goodbye, PT!

Goodbye, PT! Goodbye, PT!

[all cheering]

[Petra] How did you watch
the Lower House vote?

-[Dilma] Calmly.
-[José] Calmly.

-[Petra] In the presidential residence?
-[José] Yes... the Alvorada.

-Calm on the outside.
-[José] On the outside.

[Dilma] With great indignation.

How can we appear like this to the world?

What will they think of us?
I-- I felt ashamed.

-[José] And the worst--
-I felt both things.

[José]
The worst were the congressmen coming

to the presidential residence that morning
saying,

"Count on me to turn this around!"

-[Dilma] That's the part of the betrayal--
-It's deplorable.

-It's deplorable.
-[Petra] Who did this?

-[Dilma] Oh, my...
-[José] We... [laughs]

[Dilma] This process is Kafkaesque
in the sense of The Castle.

-[Petra] The Trial.
-Right, Kafka's The Trial.

-[José] It's Josef K.
-Right?

[Petra] So, you felt like Josef K?

But I'm Josef K in person!

[José laughing] And I'm Josef K's lawyer.

And I'm lucky,
because Josef K didn't have a lawyer.

[José] He didn't, poor guy. He was alone.

I at least have this luck,
of being Josef K with a lawyer!

[gentle piano music playing]

[Petra, in English] For me,
the face of Brazil changed

the night of this vote.

My face.

The face of this Congress.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra] This is Jair Messias Bolsonaro,

a retired army captain

who had just declared
he would run for president.

[Bolsonaro, in Portuguese]
They lost in 1964.

They lost now, in 2016.

Against Communism...

[Petra, in English] Exalting
the dictatorship's most infamous torturer

and assassin.

[in Portuguese] In memory
of Colonel Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra,

Dilma Rousseff's greatest terror!

[Bolsonaro] I have plans for 2018.

-I'm taking it seriously. Yes.
-[reporter] Presidential elections?

I have eight percent in the polls.

If Datafolha gives me eight percent,
I must have 24%.

Agribusiness loves me when I say,

"You farm guys will have your rifles."

The welcoming card
for the Landless Movement

is a loaded gun.

If you'd like a gun at home,

you'll have it!

That's how violence is fought!

The language that bums understand
is violence.

They call me rude, homophobic,
fascist, etc...

I'm a hero.

I get stronger every day
in the public opinion.

If you want, come on in.
I'm just changing my clothes.

Okay? This is my office.

These are...

our last presidents.

Castelo Branco, Costa e Silva, Médici--

who ended the Araguaia guerrilla...

or we'd have a FARC
in the center of Brazil. Geisel...

Who the left hates, right?

'Cause criminals then
got what they deserved.

[Petra, in English] A part of my family
decided to vote for him.

In Bolsonaro's cosmology,

militants like my parents
should have been killed.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra] It was the face of a country

that had never punished the crimes
committed under military rule.

A country that had been shaped by slavery,

privilege, and coups.

[indistinct shouting]

[weapons fire]

[Petra]
Our democracy was founded on forgetting.

-[weapons fire]
-[people scream]

[smoke bomb explodes]

[man 1, in Portuguese]
Well done! Well done, you!

Hey! My stuff!

[indistinct shouting]

-[man 1] Get your hands off of him!
-[man 2] He didn't do anything!

-[man 2] Leave him alone!
-[man 1] Well done, you!

Well done, you!

[indistinct shouting]

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra, in English]
After the Lower House vote,

the Senate suspends Dilma for 112 days

until her final trial.

-Temer takes office as interim president.
-[audience applauds]

As he substitutes
the first female president,

he names a cabinet of all white males.

[man 1, in Portuguese]
God save the president!

-[man 2] Hey, braggart!
-[man 3] There's your spotlight.

[man 3] You got your screen time.

What we want to do with Brazil

is a religious act.

An act of reconnecting
all of Brazilian society...

[audience cheers]

...with the fundamental values

of our country.

[crowd cheering]

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra, in English] This night,
the rules of the palace were suspended.

It was a feast.

The fauna of the plateau
changed radically in a few hours.

Temer's arrival filled the corridors

with right-wing conservatives
of the Congress,

defenders of the Bible,
the bullet, and the bull.

[man 5, in Portuguese] Not now. Not now.

[Petra, in English]
These men seized the saloon with thirst

after years
of having to ask for permission to enter.

-[indistinct chatter]
-[incidental opera music playing]

[Petra] Of course,
there were also those who never left.

At a party in Bandeirantes Palace,

a politician asked
the owner of a company,

"What are you doing here?"

And the owner answered, "I'm always here.

You politicians are the ones who change."

After a few hours filming in the Alvorada,

as I walk out the door,
I find two plaques,

placed on each side of the palace.

On one side,

a plaque placed during the term
of Fernando Collor de Mello,

a right-wing president,

saying that this palace
was renovated thanks to the generosity

of these companies.

And on the other,

a plaque placed during the term of Lula,
a left-wing president.

Andrade Gutierrez

is the name of the company
my grandfather cofounded in 1947.

In 2015,

the president and several executives
of the company went to prison,

as well as from most
major construction companies.

The influence of money in politics

was the secret that all knew
and none addressed,

until Car Wash came.

It was painful to see a party we elected
on the promise of transforming the system

become more and more cemented
within a structure of campaign financing

designed to make change almost impossible.

[Petra, in Portuguese]
Mom, how did you feel

when they began to reveal
the corruption schemes

between the government
and construction companies?

Corruption schemes
between the government and companies

is the common rule
in the history of Brazil.

What's new is...

Car Wash, that imprisons
and strikes plea bargains

with politicians and businessmen,

including executives linked to my family.

This was the great novelty.

It never happened before in this country.

I even thought it could be effective.

But it started getting highly partisan.

Above all,

it started looking
like a strategy of the elite

to eliminate the threat of the left.

Take out Lula, overthrow Dilma,
do away with PT.

Even if...

at the cost of sacrificing
a part of the elite--

the contractors.

So, cut off that arm
and preserve the rest.

[man] The Workers' Party was born

contesting all this vertical,
bureaucratic,

corrupt form of doing politics--

As it kept growing and dealing with power,

it lost something, Petra,
very important to us.

That is, "One foot out, one foot in."

The foot on the outside keeps connected

to the social struggles,

knowing that, in capitalism,

you only get your rights
by mobilizing and fighting.

The inside foot
is being inside the institution,

seeking to change it.

But we grew,
and the outside foot was slowly forgotten.

We started depending too much
on governing through Congress.

We thought we'd be friends
with the big fish, effortlessly.

Uh, that the campaign financing
was a natural thing.

We didn't make the political reform

necessary to end

the curse of business campaign financing.

There lies the mother of corruption.

The candidate needs money,

the company funds him
and asks for favors when he's elected.

He thinks, "If I don't do as they say,

I won't have money
for the next campaign."

The party started doing
what the others did.

Forgetting that the treatment
by these "houses of justice"

would be totally different
for us in relation to them.

[gentle instrumental music playing]

[Petra, in English] After only 11 days
of Temer's interim government,

an unknown party leaks new audio

shedding light on what had been going on
in the shadows of the Republic.

In the conversation,

recorded weeks before
the first impeachment vote,

Temer's right-hand man, Romero Jucá,

was recorded discussing
Operation Car Wash

with a former oil executive.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[Petra, in English] Again.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[reporter 1] It's a bomb exploding

in the second week
of Temer's government...

[reporter 2] The conversations happened
a few weeks before the vote

in which the Lower House opened

an impeachment process
against President Dilma.

[reporter 3, in English]
In the conversation, the men agree

that ousting President Rousseff

would be the only way to end
the corruption probe against them.

[dramatic violin music playing]

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra] With the motivation
of the impeachment exposed,

I thought the process could fall apart.

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
Coup plotter!

-[man 1] Crook!
-[man 2] You belong in jail!

-[glass squeaking]
-[indistinct chatter]

[man 3] If Temer does take office
by the Senate's decision,

his government will better,
not worsen, people's lives.

[interviewer 1] How was your meeting
with Vice President Temer this morning?

We had another conversation.

The president spoke

in further detail
of his plans for a state reform,

shutting down ministries...

[reporter, in English] Well,
the most questionable element

in this whole process

is whether or not
this impeachment procedure

is being conducted
in the interest of the country,

since more than half of the members
of both houses of Congress

are either under investigation
or have been charged

for crimes that include fraud, slavery,

and even homicide.

-[camera shutters clicking]
-[orchestra music playing]

[reporter 2] It's being called D-Day
for Dilma Rousseff.

This is going to be the first time
the suspended president comes

face-to-face with her accusers
to defend herself...

[crowd clamoring]

[in Portuguese] To what extent do you
and your government

feel sincerely responsible

for this recession,
for the 12 million unemployed,

the 60 million people in debt,

and the five percent loss in income
of the Brazilian workers?

If one of your arguments to justify
the pedaling,

or the fiscal accounting fraud,

is the drop in revenues,

that too is prohibited in our country.

[man 1] By your own decision,

when hiding data, numbers, facts,

you covered up a terrible reality.

Until the day when truth surfaced.

[man 2] The budget maneuvering was done
not out of love for the poor,

the assistance programs,
nor love for the Bolsa Família program.

It was to cover up the damage
to the national bank.

I apologize because,
even though I didn't intend to,

I caused her suffering.

And I ask her to...

[indistinct chatter]

[crying] ...one day... understand

that I did this
thinking also of her grandchildren.

I'm here to look directly in the eyes
of Your Excellencies,

and to say with the serenity
of those with nothing to hide,

I haven't committed the crimes

I'm unfairly and arbitrarily accused of.

It's not legitimate,
as my accusers would like,

to remove a chief of government

because they don't agree
with their body of work.

The ones to do so are the people,

and only the people, at the polls.

Now,

the Constitution is invoked

so the world of appearances
hypocritically conceals

the world of facts.

We will all be judged by history.

Twice, I saw up close the face of death,

when I was tortured...

When I was tortured

for successive days,

subjected to abuse that made us doubt

humanity and the very meaning of life.

And when a serious,
extremely painful illness

could've shortened my life.

Today,

I fear only the death of democracy.

[solemn piano music playing]

[woman] Hey! Hold on a second, honey.
These boxes...

[Petra] Did you expect this to happen?

Well, the way things were going,

yes, we did.

Things...

I think there's still a lot more
to come out.

A lot more dirt.

It would be easy if all that's happened
could be cleaned

with a cloth and a bucket of water.
But unfortunately, there's no way.

So many filthy things.

These things always happen in politics.
If you ask me...

she must have deserved it

or the whole population wouldn't be
thinking this way.

But I don't think anyone's clean.

The people chose her.

I think new elections
would be the best thing.

I'm not sure
she was taken out by the people.

It wasn't democratic,
or a choice by voters.

Actually, there is no democracy.

I don't think so.

Our right to vote--

I don't think it exists.

[Petra, in English] After the impeachment,

all eyes turn
to the next presidential election.

Lula declares
he will run for president again.

[Petra, in Portuguese]
Do you have any regrets?

[Lula] I regret a lot of things, my dear.

But my greatest regret
is not having done more.

Not having presented to Congress
when I was president

the new media regulations.

Nine families run
the entire media in Brazil.

And we have centuries of prejudice,
you know?

Centuries of domination,

from the plantation masters
and slaves being so mistreated.

To change...

all that...

is very tough.

If-- And it doesn't always work.

But when there's a revolution,

half die in battle, half run away,

and then you think you can do it all.
In many countries, this was possible.

But to do it the way we did,

with democracy, freedom of the press,

with the right to strike,
the right to protest,

with Congress working freely?

That's much harder,
but it's also more rewarding.

Because...

we learn...

what the values of democracy are.

[man] Getting to the top of the hierarchy
of the criminal organization,

today the Prosecutor's Office

accuses Mr. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

of being the mastermind
of the corruption scheme

identified in Car Wash.

[Petra, in English]
And only two weeks after the impeachment,

prosecutors present their accusation live,

to the main media networks,

with 14 points that include

that as President Lula had had
the power to make decisions

and that he was close to several people
convicted in Car Wash.

The actual accusation, though,
filed after two years of investigation,

was that Lula had received an apartment
from a construction company.

[in Portuguese] We don't have clear proof

of Lula's legal ownership
of the apartment.

The fact that he doesn't appear
as the owner

of the Guarujá triplex apartment

is a way of hiding the actual ownership.
And, in the same way...

[Petra, in English]
The fact that there is no evidence

that he's the owner of the apartment

is considered proof
of his attempt to hide it,

and this proof is then used as evidence
that he's the mastermind of the scheme.

The signs that Lula
received special favors

from contractors were troubling.

I wish the investigation had convinced me
whether he was guilty or innocent,

but instead, I was seeing prosecutors
making a spectacle to present their case.

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra] Lula's wife, Marisa,

is also indicted in the accusation
about the apartment.

Four months later,
she suffers a stroke and dies.

[crowd singing in Portuguese]

♪ Hold to God's unchanging hand and go ♪

♪ Hold to God's unchanging hand and go ♪

♪ Hold to God's unchanging hand ♪

♪ Hold to God's unchanging hand ♪

♪ He shall guide you out of the dark ♪

[reporter on radio] The former president
has his last chance to defend himself

in the case
of the Guarujá triplex apartment.

[reporter 2] For the first time
since Car Wash began,

Sérgio Moro and Lula will meet
face-to-face.

[news anchor]
It's improper that the deposition

of a defendant to a federal judge

within legal proceedings

be transformed into this carnival.

"The confrontation of the century."

-[police sirens wailing]
-[helicopter blades whirring]

FIRST FACE-TO-FACE MEETING
MORO VS. LULA

[Moro] Did you ever visit

the triplex apartment 164-A
of the Solaris Condominium?

Yes, in 2014.

-How many times did you go there?
-Once.

I saw 500 flaws in it,

and never again did I talk to Leo
about the apartment.

Did you or your wife request
any sort of renovation for this apartment?

-No.
-No?

As I consider this lawsuit illegitimate...

-[Moro] Mm-hmm.
-...and the accusation a farce,

I'm-- I'm-- I'm here
out of respect for the law

-and our Constitution,
-[Moro] Mm-hmm.

but with many reservations regarding

the Car Wash prosecutors.

I see. But this is your opportunity
to defend yourself

and clarify these matters, right?

Some directors of contractors

admitted there was a criminal scheme
within Petrobras

to pay a bribe for large contracts.

You had no knowledge
of any of the crimes committed

-by the directors of Petrobras?
-No.

[Moro] Mr. Ex-President...

you say you were not responsible
and had no knowledge.

Uh... could there have been any slips?

What do you think happened in this case?

-Dr. Moro, do you feel responsible...
-[Moro] Hmm?

...for the destruction
of Brazil's civil construction industry

by Car Wash?

I'm sure you don't.

Do you find
that what's harmed these companies

-is corruption, or the fight against it?
-No. The method of fighting corruption.

I'm being judged
because of a PowerPoint built on lies.

I'd expect that in a hearing such as this,
the Prosecutor's Office

would present... [stammers]
...the property deed.

"Lula says it's not his,
but here's the legal document.

He paid for it. There's thedeed."

What I want is for the innuendos to stop

and that I be told
what crime I've committed!

Prison for the thief!

Jail!

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra, in English] Two months later,

Moro sentences Lula
to nine and a half years in prison.

[in Portuguese] Robber of Petrobras!

He should die in prison!

Long live Moro!

[Petra, in English]
His case reaches the court of appeals

at a faster speed than any other process
of Car Wash.

And there, his sentence is increased
to 12 years.

TRIAL DECIDES LULA'S FUTURE TODAY

PREVENT LULA'S ARREST
DEFEAT THE COUP

[crowd clamoring]

[man, in English] I'm afraid I have to say

that Brazil has a primitive system

based on the Spanish Inquisition

that was taken into Portugal and was--

Then, in the 19th century,
you inherited it.

I don't think the case against Lula

would get off the ground
in England or Europe,

and the extraordinary thing

about Brazil's legal system

is that your prosecutors are judges.

An investigating judge, like Judge Moro,

who targets the suspect, orders...

their telephones to be tapped,
their houses to be searched.

And then...

he charges them
and turns into the trial judge.

The most important right of a defendant

is the right to an impartial judge.

-[crickets chirping]
-[birds singing]

[calming flute music playing]

[Petra, in English]
Behind the curtain of public appearances,

audio leaks kept reminding me

of a story more reminiscent
of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

If the first leak echoed the conspiracy
of the senators to stab Caesar

because he had become too powerful...

the second reminded me
of the final act of the play,

when Brutus cannot sleep,
haunted by Caesar's ghost.

At midnight,

speaking to the owner
of the world's largest meat company,

Temer confesses
that he cannot live in the palace.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[Petra, in English]
But the conversation reveals more

than just Temer's superstition.

He's allegedly heard encouraging
hush money payments

to buy Cunha's silence.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra, in English] Cunha's silence
was in Temer's close interest

considering that, a few months earlier,

Cunha had been sentenced
to 15 years in jail for corruption

and could sign a plea bargain
denouncing Temer.

But in the end, he didn't.

-[speaking indistinctly]
-[camera shutters clicking]

[Petra] Temer was also accused
of asking Joesley for another favor.

In these images,

we see Temer's close aide
carrying a suitcase

with what investigators believe
was the first payment

of $150,000
that would be paid weekly to Temer,

totaling $12 million.

[woman speaking indistinctly]

[Petra] Aécio was also recorded,

allegedly arranging
who would pick up his payment

of $625,000.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[Petra, in English] Again.

[on recording in Portuguese]

[Petra, in English]
Thanks to his parliamentary immunity

and a little help
from his fellow senators,

Aécio preserves his mandate
and his freedom.

[crowd clamoring]

[Petra]
And one year after Dilma's impeachment,

the same Congress that was so vocal
against corruption

suddenly changed its tone

when voting
whether Temer should be investigated.

[man, in Portuguese]
We've come to the decisive moment

when each of us

will vote before the Brazilian people.

May the voting begin.

An investigation is needed,
but it's not urgent!

Not that this is to be an ode

to criminality.

A country which looks to the future

doesn't change presidents
like it changes clothes.

Putting an interim government
inside a provisional government...

is not good for Brazil at this moment.

It's not good for Brazil
to keep shifting presidents.

I vote yes to archive.

[man 2] Result. For: 263.

Against: 227.

The matter will be archived,
and the decision

not to authorize an investigation
of President Temer

will be communicated to the Supreme Court.

[Petra, in English]
Fragile democracies have one advantage

over solid ones:

they know when they're over.

Generals close the Congress,

occupy the TV stations,

and everyone knows what happened.

But democracies can also end slowly.

They say this vote cost
$1.3 billion in amendments,

so that congressmen would shield
the president from prosecution.

The fact that 80% of the population
wanted Temer to be investigated

didn't bother the politicians;

neither the stock markets
that celebrated the results.

Temer was delivering
almost all they had asked for.

Auctioning the country's oil reserves
to foreign companies,

weakening laws
that prohibited slave labor,

and approving austerity measures
that would brutally hurt the poor.

One can have different opinions
on legal issues.

What seems wrong to me
is for one side of the political dispute

to have the power
to turn the institutions on and off

according to their own interests.

A blatant exercise of power

that gave me the nauseous feeling

that our democracy was very sick.

[crowd chanting in Portuguese]
Coupists! Fascists! You shall not pass!

Coupists! Fascists! You shall not pass!

Out with Temer! Out with Temer!
Out with Temer!

Out with Temer! Out with Temer!

[woman over megaphone] Military police!
We need to stop the repression!

This car needs to move!

[crowd chanting] Who said it's normal,

Americans taking over our oil?

[sirens wailing in distance]

[crowd clamoring]

-[gunfire]
-[smoke bombs whoosh]

[sirens blaring]

[piercing orchestra music playing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Petra, in English]
Six months before the election,

Lula leads with 31% of vote intentions,

followed by Bolsonaro with 15.

[in Portuguese]
A good Workers' Party person is one

without a mandate, no political office...

Is one living in Cuba.

The army is who guarantees our democracy,

and we've always had the army
for democracy and freedom.

[Petra, in English]
In the public opinion,

Bolsonaro seems little by little
to seize the space occupied by Moro

as the new redeemer.

And despite
his anti-democratic statements,

a significant part of the elite
starts to think of him

as the best alternative
to defend the interests of the market.

On April 4th,

the Supreme Court meets
to come to a final decision

on whether Lula is allowed to remain free

until he exhausts his appeals.

[inaudible]

[Petra]
At 1:00 a.m., by six votes to five,

Lula's appeal is denied.

And the next day,

Judge Moro issues an order
for Lula to turn himself into prison

within 24 hours.

[crowd clamoring]

[woman 1, in Portuguese]
You're gonna meet the president.

-[man 1] Guys, hey!
-[man 2] You got your picture, let's go.

[woman 2] Could you take my picture?

[reporter, in English] The Supreme Court's
rejection of Lula's bid

to stay out of jail while he appeals

effectively removes him
from Brazil's presidential election

later this year,
where he was the front-runner.

[indistinct chatter]

[reporter 2, in Portuguese]
Many people are arguing

for him not to turn himself in.

It was too quick, Marlene, come on!

What about this battery of lawyers?
It shouldn't have been that quick.

Lawyers can't do much about it.

Okay?

I knew...

the coup wouldn't end
until they'd arrested me.

Because Dilma's impeachment

was a way of getting to me.

It made no sense to impeach Dilma...

and let me come back four years later.

I'm practically under house arrest here,

because I can't leave.

The union is my guarantee

that they won't arrest me. So I'm...

destined to spend the night on the floor.

[Petra chuckles]

[reporter] The deadline established
by Moro

for Lula to turn himself in
to serve prison time

for the triplex apartment charges
has ended.

[Petra, in English]
As I went home, I heard fireworks

celebrating Lula's imminent arrest.

They made me think of a quote.

"There's class warfare all right,"
said Warren Buffett,

one of the richest men in the world.

"But it's my class, the rich class,
that's making war,

and we're winning."

[indistinct chatter]

[in Portuguese] It's a little high,
Mr. President, 146 over 90.

Funny, I usually don't have
blood pressure above 13.

[men shouting] Lula! Lula!

[crowd chanting]
Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people!

Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people!

Lula, warrior of the Brazilian people!

NO TO LULA'S ARREST
NO TO THE COUP

[crowd chanting]
Here are the people, not afraid to fight!

Here are the people, not afraid to fight!

Here are the people, not afraid to fight!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

[Lula] We now have a delicate job to do.

They...

ordered my arrest.

And let me tell you something:

-I'm going to obey this order of theirs.
-[crowd] No!

I'm going to do so
because I want to transfer responsibility.

They think everything
that's going on in this country

is because of me.

If I didn't believe in justice,

I wouldn't have founded a political party.

I would've proposed
a revolution in this country.

But I believe in justice!

A fair justice system,

where verdicts are based
on the evidence presented.

It's no use trying to stop me
from traveling around this country,

because there are millions of Lulas,
Boulos, Manuelas, and Dilma Rousseffs

to do it for me.

There's no use in trying to stop my ideas.

They're already in the air,
and you can't imprison them!

There's no point
in trying to stop my dreams,

because when I stop dreaming,

I'll be dreaming
through your minds and dreams!

There's no point in thinking
everything's going to stop

the day Lula has a heart attack.

That's nonsense!

Because my heart will be beating
through yours,

and there are millions of hearts!

The powerful

can kill one, two, or 100 roses.

But they'll never stop
the arrival of spring,

and our fight is in search of spring!

[crowd cheering and applauding]

[somber orchestra music playing]

[crowd chanting] Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

[crowd clamoring]

[chanting] Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Circle in, circle in!
Don't let them jail him!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

Don't turn yourself in!
Don't turn yourself in!

[reporter 1] ...the result
of the last 48 hours of negotiations

between Lula's representatives
and the Federal Police...

When all seemed settled,
his supporters prevented him from leaving.

[reporter 2] Protesters have occupied
all possible exits.

[reporter 1] Lula left the union,

but instead of getting in the car,

he's coming out walking.

[crowd shouting]

Let's calm down, all right?

[indistinct chatter]

-[man 1] Mr. President!
-[man 2] Mr. President!

[Lula] Bye-bye, dear.

[man 3] We're right behind you
in the motorcade with the guys.

Mr. President, let me give you a kiss.

-[stammers] Where's Cris?
-[man 4] Zanin.

Cristiano Zanin will be with him.
The lawyer.

[man 5] Goodbye, Mr. President.

[helicopter blades whirring overhead]

[man 6] Careful there.

[police sirens wailing]

[man shouting]

[crowd clamoring]

FORMER PRESIDENT LULA
IS TAKEN INTO CUSTODY TO CURITIBA

-[people shouting]
-[whistle blowing]

[man 1 whoops]

[man 2] It's fucking Bolsonaro!

[somber piano music playing]

[Bolsonaro over radio]
The red criminals...

[crowd cheers]

...will be banned from our country.

#BOLSOLEGEND
YOU'D BETTER GET USED TO JAIR!

[horns honking]

[Bolsonaro] We're the majority.

Together, we'll build a new nation.

DIE HARD
BOLSONARO LEGEND

[somber piano music continues playing]

[Petra, in English] A Greek writer said
that democracy is only working

when the rich feel threatened.

Otherwise, oligarchy takes over.

From father to son, from son to grandson,

from grandson to great-grandson,
and so successively.

We are a republic of families.

Some control the media,
others control the banks.

They own the sand, the rock, the iron.

And all so often, it happens

that they get tired of democracy,
of its rule of law.

How do we deal with the pain
of being thrown into a future

that looks as bleak as our darkest past?

What do we do
when the mask of civility falls

and what appears is an ever more haunting
image of ourselves?

Where do we gather the strength
to walk through the ruins

and start anew?

[bossa nova music playing]

Subtitle translation by Othelo Sabbag