The darkness that precedes the storm - A Brazilian Dystopia for troubled times

Hot, humid, muggy weather, almost no wind, no movement. In the late afternoon, heavy rain invariably falls and drenches the inhabitants of the coastal town. Suddenly, a sound is heard in the distance, filling the space with a dry/imposing/oppressive melody: come and celebrate the Church of the Congregation of Golden Affection with its implacable dogmas and false pastors. Come! Come and feed yourselves/celebrate the State of Exception where hatred and resentment set the tone for a grey daily life. ATTENTION: Listen up, everyone - the hymn of the Church of the Congregation of Golden Affection is getting louder, louder...Fear must be sown. Close doors and windows, a fascist militia theocracy wants to enter your home and lie in your bed.

I conceived Umidade(Moisture) in a state of anger and nonconformity because Brazil was coming out of a pandemic, with an immense number of deaths, plunged into the chaos of an extreme right-wing negationist/militia government. My country had been in a state of political turmoil since 2013, had gone through a coup d’état in 2016 and all this culminated in the rise of an extreme right-wing government in 2018 with a nostalgic mentality for the Brazilian dictatorship that lasted more than two decades in the country.

To conclude, I see this film as an outburst/a scream of rage against all the neo-fascist movements that are spreading around the world. There has to be an alternative to all this terror and resentment. There must be...

Duda Gorter
March,2024