Paulo Honorio, a man of humble origins, rises as a salesman and loan shark before seizing the declining Sao Bernardo estate in Alagoas. He modernizes the farm and marries Madalena, the town's teacher, in hopes of having an heir. But as time passes, their differences grow increasingly irreconcilable.
'S. Bernardo,' adapted from Graciliano Ramos's classic 1934 novel, is a stark portrait of power, possession, and moral decay in Brazil's Northeast. The film follows Paulo Honorio, a self-made landowner whose ruthless ambition isolates him from love, community, and ultimately himself. Leon Hirszman employs austere compositions, controlled camera movements, and the harsh landscape to echo the novel's severe style, translating Ramos's prose into a rigorous cinematic form. More than a faithful adaptation, Sao Bernardo reflects the political climate of the military dictatorship, exposing the authoritarian logic of domination that shapes both personal relations and social structures in Brazil.