Gabriel Mascaro (Neon Bull) directs Divine Love, a near-future dystopian take on conservative religious Brazil at the tail end of what would be Jair Bolsonaro’s two-term presidency. Saturated by neon colors and electronic music, the film presents a striking and sensual allegory of the current political and religious climate in Brazil.
In 2027 Brazil, Joana (Dira Paes) works as a notary at a divorce registration office. She secretly uses her position to undermine divorce proceedings and persuade couples to join an evangelical community called Divine Love. She and her husband Danilo (Julio Machado) are members of the cultish group, which only accepts married couples. It’s a deeply intimate assembly, marked by dance club praise sessions, drive-thru sermons, Bible readings, and a lot of sex with other people’s partners (an act considered biblical as long as a man’s seed is kept solely for his wife).
Paes stuns in her portrayal of a woman desperate to bear a child with her once-estranged husband. Joana is consistently surrounded by hues of blue and pink, signifying the sheer importance of fertility and child-rearing in her world. She is a woman at a crossroads, having done everything right, according to her faith, and yet never rewarded for it. But she remains ever faithful to her God in her despair. When things take a turn, however, Joana does not receive the reaction she expected from her community. Her character is a stunningly realistic portrayal of how far one is willing to push her faith whenever life pushes back: the more she is challenged, the more stubborn she becomes.
Mascaro excels primarily at worldbuilding. He paints a bleak view of the country’s near future, where women’s bodies are regulated by the government to the point that entryways can detect current pregnancies and history of abortions, which are criminalized. There’s a moment of dissonance surrounding that law when an overabundance of abandoned children is alluded to. The film’s message is more complex than an indictment of fundamentalism, although it is that too. Mascaro communicates his pity for those like Joana, even as he points a scathing finger at the married church and state which betray their most extreme supporters. Faith doesn’t require proof. But Divine Love offers an unflinching exploration of what happens when one receives it. A valuable addition to foreign language and dystopian shelves. Highly recommended.