John Oliver says Brazil's election could turn on a crappy Jim Caviezel movie

With customary rapid-fire alternation of zingers and cold, sobering reality, Oliver explained that Brazil, the fourth largest democracy in the world, narrowly escaped a right-wing takeover when defeated former president Jair Bolsonaro fomented a 2022 coup which saw supporters violently storm government buildings. Okay, sounds vaguely familiar, but since Oliver notes how, after his defeat, Bolsonaro was spotted in the Orlando area, complaining about a “stolen election” to anybody who’d listen, the reflection becomes uncanny. As Oliver puts it, “an authoritarian leader who lost an election only to then go sulk in Florida and plot his revenge” proves that “history doesn’t repeat itself but sometimes it does get dubbed in Portuguese.”

Well now Bolsonaro’s son Flávio is running neck-and-neck with the 80-year-old center-left President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (aka Lula), on a platform of opening the rainforest for destruction, pardoning his father (currently under house arrest for the whole coup thing), and all manner of right-wing policies the Trump administration has openly supported. How does the QAnon-supporting lead of The Passion of the Christ fit in? Well, as Oliver notes in gleeful detail, the fading star appeared in a pro-Jair Bolsonaro flick called Dark Horse, in which the former Jesus (in a terrible, rented wig and dodgy accent) promises adoring crowds he will stand up to Brazil’s enemies like “foreigners, environmentalists and Hollywood pedophiles.” (Oliver’s read the screenplay, which is even better/worse.) 

With a massive scandal surrounding the illegal funding (with Flávio’s involvement) of the film and the distributor’s decision to postpone Dark Horse‘s release until after the October 4 election, the younger Bolsonaro now has an “all scandal, no movie” millstone around his neck. Which is good, since the contest is currently running neck-and-neck. So go out and vote, if you’re in Brazil.