Country: Brazil
A wonderful and forgotten Brazilian gem written and directed by Anselmo Duarte. The first and the only Brazilian movie to this day whom has won the "Palme d' Or" in Cannes, due to its articulated argument, excellent acting and masterful use of simplicity (no technical bullshit here).
The film is about a man called "Zé do Burro" in Portuguese (which can be translated as "Joseph The Donkey") who has made the promise of carrying a Cross from his house to the church of Santa Barbara in order to save the life of his best friend, a donkey named Nicolau, we can't see the donkey on the screen but we can imagine that he is a great friend and a fabulous co-worker, but when Zé finally arrives at the entrace of the church the priest denies him the entry acussing him of trying to be Jesus Christ himself!
It is also about prejudice, injustice and a form of modern inquisition, due to the social violence against the main character who is a loyal and devoted catholic, and whose only pupose is to save his best friend's life, but the catholic regime in Brazil is outraged by the fact that he made that promise during local african white-magic ritual called "candumblé", which in the eyes of the catholic church is considered a "crime" and synonym of blasphemy, heresy, paganism, witchcraft among many other "sins", also we can see another fact at the time in Brazil (and in many Latin American countries) which was the predominance of white people in the clergy.
The ending is tragic, but it's a movie that makes you think and revalue your beliefs (in case you are Catholic) and I made myself another question: why films involving donkeys do always have tragic endings?
Muito bom o seu blog. Parabéns pelo trabalho. O Pagador De Promessas foi o nosso ganhador do Cannes na época. Bem lembrado.
ResponderEliminarUm filme muito importante para o cinema nacional do Brasil.
ResponderEliminar