Executive Order, part of the 2021 SXSW Film Festival lineup
Writer-director Lázaro Ramos takes an age-old racist threat and wonders how it’d look in real life in this Brazilian thriller about a government forcing its Black citizens to “go back to Africa.”
Antônio (Alfred Enoch), is a kindhearted but outspoken civil rights lawyer who sues the Brazilian government for monetary reparations to Black citizens, attempting to hold the state accountable for its violent history against the African slaves brought to the land centuries ago and their descendants still struggling today. The government retaliates with the “Return Yourself” initiative, paying to send all Black Brazilians to different countries in Africa against their will.
Directed by Lázaro Ramos; written by Lusa Silvestre, Aldri Anunciação, Elísio Lopes Jr. and Ramos
Among the films screened at this year’s Pan African Film Festival, which was held virtually in February,
Executive Order (2020) stood out not only for addressing identity politics, but also for approaching the subject with a combination of humor and seriousness.
Based on a 2011 play called
Namibia, No!, the Brazilian film exposes the absurdity and reactionary logic of a perspective that elevates race above all other considerations. But as thoughtful and refreshing as the film is, it is unable to articulate a progressive alternative to racial politics precisely because it does not reject them completely.