Cast
Leonardo Villar Glória Menezes Dionísio Azevedo
Credits
Written by: 
Anselmo Duarte
Plot
After his donkey is saved from near death, the poor farmer Zé do Burro promises a saint that he will carry a heavy cross seven leagues to the church of Santa Bárbara in Salvador. When he arrives, the priest refuses him entry, because the promise was made in an Afro-Brazilian candomblé ceremony. Anselmo Duarte's 1962 film follows the escalating confrontation between faith, church, press and police, and won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.
Sinekatalog’s take
Anselmo Duarte's Palme d'Or winner follows a poor farmer carrying a cross to a church, turned away by a priest. Powerful, tragic and angry, it is a landmark of Brazilian cinema on faith, faith's institutions and social class.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 8.3 / 10 (4,775 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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