The Given Word (O pagador de promessas)
Directed by Anselmo Duarte
Written Anselmo Duarte based on a play by Dias Gomes
1962/Brazil
Cinedistri
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep. — Robert Frost [/box]

This social commentary is sort of a  Brazilian version of Ace in the Hole.

Ze do Burro (“Donkey”Jack) is a simple farmer.  His beloved donkey is injured and will not stop bleeding.  Ze goes to a candombe ritual and promises their version of Saint Barbara that he will donate part of his land to the poor and carry a heavy cross seven leagues to her church if she will restore his animal to health.  The donkey survives and Ze tries to comply with his promises.  The first part is easy.

When Ze and his wife Rosa arrive in the city, it is nighttime and the church is closed.  Ze believes that he will have fulfilled his promise only if he carries the cross into the church. But when the church opens its priest, believing that candombe is Satanic and so is Ze, bars the doors to him.  Ze refuses to budge.  In the ensuing hours, Ze becomes the victim of a number of charletans and hack journalists, who eventually whip the crowd into a frenzy.  Rosa succumbs to the temptations of a city slicker.  Can Ze ever keep his promise?

“Christ” is thoroughly misunderstood by every facet of society from the Church to the revolutionaries this one.  It is a good movie but I felt it lacked focus somehow.  I really don’t have any more to say.

This is the only Brazilian film ever to have won the Palm d’Or at Cannes.  It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language film.

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