Peasant Ze appears on the steps of the Saint Barbara church, having made a vow to carry a cross inside for saving his beloved donkey from illness. When he is turned away by the local priest for blasphemy, Ze refused to leave the church steps until his vow is honored and unwittingly becomes a symbol in a fierce struggle between faith, politics, and power.
The first and only Brazilian film to win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Anselmo Duarte's 'O Pagador de Promessas' remains one of the most powerful critiques of religious hypocrisy and social injustice in Brazilian cinema. Set almost entirely on the steps and street before an imposing church, the film transforms its confined setting into a stage of moral and spiritual confrontation, captured with striking black and white cinematography.