The Trial

The Trial offers a fascinating look at the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female President. The film portrays the “judicial political” trial, focusing on the President’s Defense Team which struggles against a Congress riddled with corruption. The film also presents Rousseff’s personal story: imprisoned and tortured by the country’s former dictatorship, she is now accused of fiscal crimes and corruption charges under her government. Director Maria Augusta Ramos was granted access to the defense team, to left wing senators, and to Rousseff herself, and her technique is wholly observational. She looks at the collapse of the democratic institutions at the heart of the crisis and reflects on the dangers facing so many democracies around the world.