ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses lawfare (the improper use of legal mechanisms as a means for political persecution) in the context of Maria Augusta Ramos’s 2018 documentary O Processo (The Trial), a film which goes behind the scenes with the defence team during the final months of the impeachment of Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff in 2016. I argue that The Trial serves as a potent illustration of the use of lawfare in contemporary Brazilian politics, and of how we can begin to approach Brazil’s far-reaching contemporary legal questions from a cultural studies perspective.
