“The Dark Horse”… a film that threatens to thwart the campaign of the son of the former Brazilian president

The upcoming film about the former Brazilian leader, Jair Bolsonaro, called “Dark Horse” includes American actors, and is timed to coincide with the presidential candidacy of the son of this far-right populist leader, Flaviao Bolsonaro, who is running in place of his father, who was imprisoned on charges of planning a coup.

With a mix of suspense and intrigue, the trailer, released last week, shows the film’s star, Jim Caviezel, playing politician Jair Bolsonaro, once dubbed the “Trump of the tropics,” during his successful 2018 election campaign, including an assassination attempt that nearly took his life.

In a sarcastic Brazilian accent in a clip from the film, actor Caviezel says: “For foreigners, and for environmentalists… this country does not belong to them… it belongs to us.”

But before its release, the English-language biopic is turning into a comedy of errors, following revelations that Flaviao Bolsonaro, the son of the former Brazilian leader, obtained millions of dollars in financing for the film from a banker allegedly behind a bank collapse.

This surprising news placed the son of the former Brazilian leader, a rival of the leftist president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at the heart of a widespread political scandal that shook the city of Brasilia, putting the 45-year-old senator’s candidacy in the presidential elections, scheduled for next October, in jeopardy.

The eldest son of the former Brazilian president insisted that he did nothing wrong in his dealings with the owner of Master Bank, Daniel Forcaro, a medium-sized bank that collapsed last November after allegations of a $2.3 billion fraud. Flaviao said that he met the bank owner before any accusations or public suspicions were raised against the businessman, and that he did not provide any services in return. However, pressure intensified last week when Flaviao admitted to visiting the bank owner late last year, shortly after the banker was released. Released from his initial arrest, with a monitoring bracelet on his ankle.

Flaviao said: “I went to meet him to put an end to this story, meaning that if he had warned me that the situation was this serious, I would have looked for another investor a long time ago, and the film would not have been at risk.”

For his part, the owner of Master Bank, Daniel Forcaro, succeeded in forming high-level relationships with major institutions, while boasting a lavish lifestyle, in what critics describe as a scheme to exploit influence to achieve his interests. He is currently detained and denies any wrongdoing, and criminal investigations are still ongoing.

No one, including Forcaro, has been charged in the Master Bank case, which affected figures from across the political spectrum, including individuals linked to the legislature, the Supreme Court, the executive branch, and the central bank.

The young senator, the son of the former Brazilian leader, became embroiled in the scandal when the website Intercept Brasil published this month that he had negotiated a commitment of $24 million with Forcaro for the film, and the website published an audio message from Flaviao urging the financier to make payments that appeared to be late.

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Failed attempt

The far-right populist leader, Flaviao Bolsonaro, tried to shift the blame for the controversy surrounding Master Bank onto Brazilian President Lula da Silva and his Workers’ Party, seeking to remind voters of previous corruption scandals, including those that led to Lula da Silva’s imprisonment on corruption charges that were later overturned. In the week before the report on the film’s suspicious financing was published, Bolsonaro wore a T-shirt linking Lula to Banco Master during an event.

Now, both this information and Bolsonaro’s reaction have upset some allies who believe the senator got the situation wrong. Flavio initially rejected the allegations when asked on camera, later confirming that the owner of Master Bank had invested $12 million in a fund supporting the project. Supporters fear more damaging details will emerge.

In turn, the film’s production company initially said that the film had not received “not a single cent” from the controversial businessman. But the executive producer, a Bolsonaro supporter, later retracted this statement, saying that he meant that there was no direct legal relationship with Forcaro, or Master Bank.