Citation: Adam, Júlio Cézar. 2022. Religion and Cinema as Subversive Memories: A Possible Relationship in the Brazilian Context. Religions 13: 1173. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel13121173 Academic Editor: Roberto Cipriani Received: 11 October 2022 Accepted: 28 November 2022 Published: 1 December 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). religions Article Religion and Cinema as Subversive Memories: A Possible Relationship in the Brazilian Context Júlio Cézar Adam Department of Practical Theology, Faculdades EST, São Leopoldo 93030-220, Brazil; julio3@est.edu.br Abstract: Brazil has been defined as a country without memory. On the other hand, Brazilian cinematography is rich in dealing with the theme of memory. In this scenario, Brazilians gather weekly in religious services to celebrate the memory of the Easter of Christ in the Eucharist, to remember the deeds of God in time and space, and to celebrate the memory of the Gospel embodied in the culture and memory of the Brazilian people. This article intends, therefore, to establish a relation between the lack of critical and political memories and the memory present in the narratives of Brazilian films as spaces of resistance, and the religious and subversive memory in the Christian liturgy. The methodology adopted will be, firstly, descriptive and analytical, focusing on the facts of the Brazilian reality. Secondly, memory and liturgical memory will be treated in the liturgy, ascertaining the role of this paschal memory not only as an exercise of memory, but also as a subverting and political memory in the past, present, and future. Here, relations between liturgy and Brazilian cinema will be established. Keywords: memory; religion; liturgy; cinema; Brazil 1. Introduction This article intends to establish a relationship between religion and cinema as spaces for the construction of social and political memory, in a context marked by an apparent lack of memory such as Brazil. The study establishes a relation between the neglected context of critical and political memory and forgotten and neglected memories. At the same time, this paper reflects on the memory present in the narratives of Brazilian films, as spaces of memory resistance. From this reality, it establishes relations with the liturgical memory, the subversive memory of the resurrection, and the anamnesis in the regular worship of the community as a memory loaded with political density, identity persistence, narrative resistance. An introductory approach to memory is presented, choosing to focus on cultural memory (Candau; Assmann), memory as a process of social struggle (Pollack), and the memory of suffering (Ricoeur) as specific understandings to establish a relationship with both cinema as well as with Christian worship. The structure will be, in the first section, descriptive and analytical, focusing on facts of the Brazilian reality, mainly regarding the loss and lack of social, cultural, and identity memories, taking as sources of analysis Brazilian films that deal with themes related to memory. In a second section we will deal with the concept of memory and the liturgical memory present in the liturgy, especially in the service of a historical protestant church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brazil, ascertaining the role of this paschal memory not only as an exercise of memory, but also as a subverting and political memory in the past, present, and future. In the last section, a relation will be made with Brazilian films which deal with subversive memories, reflecting on how to use this resource in the Christian worship service. Religions 2022, 13, 1173. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13121173 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions