In The Given Word, which is also sometimes titled Keeper of Promises in English releases, Ze is a poor Brazilian farmer who makes a promise both devout and rash: if God will heal his sick donkey, he will give his land to the poor and carry a full-size cross the 30 miles to a Catholic church and give it to the priest. I was aware of that much of the plot summary when I started this film and so I expected the movie to be about his journey to the church, but instead the film begins as he and his troubled wife, Rosa, arrive at the church, massive cross in tow. The problem arises when the local priest refuses to accept the cross because of the way Ze has mixed in his own “pagan” ideas with the Roman Catholicism the priest represents. But Ze’s made a promise to God and his own saints to place the cross at the high altar of the church and he won’t be denied. Thus almost the entire movie takes place on the massive stairs leading to the church as local figures are drawn into the conflict, the religious becomes the political and the atmosphere grows more tense.
This movie has a lot on its mind. The most basic conflict is, of course, that old standby of devout personal faith vs. the established bureaucracy of religion and the film has a lot to say about that and its more nuanced than it might be. Dionisio Azevedo gives, in my opinion, the best performance in the film as the pugnacious, abrasive priest; in a lot of ways he’s the villain of the movie, but he’s also trapped. Once he’s committed himself that he’s not going to let Ze into the church, he can’t really back down; his mistake is in believing that Ze will simply bow to his edict, but he’s misjudged Ze. Leonardo Villar is also very good as Ze. It would be very easy for the film to cast him as a mostly sainted character and when the film starts, that is how he’s portrayed. But as the film progresses, you start to see his anger and his stubbornness come out and, by the time you’re about an hour in, you’ll start wondering just how much his religious devotion is driving this conflict and how much of it is, by this time, a matter of wounded pride. And the film gets at a lot of other things as well. Among the supporting characters is a local reporter who sees in Ze nothing more or less than a spectacular story and the local politicians all have their own agendas as well. The local radicals want to use his pledge to give his land to the poor to turn him into a communist, a concept Ze barely understands when they explain it to him, and this makes him a target of the more entrenched politicians. Meanwhile, Ze’s wife, well played by Gloria Menezes, becomes a target of a local pimp, played to sleazy perfection by Geraldo Del Rey, who sees an opportunity to seduce this poor farmer’s wife into taking a position in his “organization.”
Because of all the religious, spiritual, political overtones here, it probably sounds like this is a talky movie and it is in some ways, but, as you can see from the above paragraph, there’s a lot going on for a ninety minute movie, so the movie actually has a really fast pace. It’s always introducing a new character or a new dynamic and as tension continues to mount, it’s a pretty compelling movie. It’s still the only Brazilian film to win the Palme D’Or at Cannes and I can see why people responded to it in such a positive way. Filmed in stark black & white, it’s still a pretty grim exploration of the toxic dynamics at play in society. Maybe the most gripping aspect of the film is the way it explores how very simple conflicts can balloon into social movements when people refuse to compromise. That feels very modern. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, which kind of takes the easy way out; I was hoping for something more ambiguous and nuanced. But that’s a pretty modest complaint, given how excellent most of the movie is. The Given Word isn’t a particularly easy movie to get ahold of these days as it’s not currently streaming anywhere that I know of and the DVDs are pretty rare as well. That’s a shame; it’s a movie that speaks to a lot of the dynamics still at work in society today. 3 ½ stars.
tl;dr – movie explores the dynamics of faith & religion, but also makes room for politics, the media and personal dramas; a compelling film that still speaks to our world today. 3 ½ stars.