O Pagador de Promessas (Portuguese pronunciation: [u paɡaˈdoʁ dʒi pɾoˈmɛsɐs], Keeper of Promises[2]) is a 1962 Brazilian drama film written and directed by Anselmo Duarte, based on the famous stage play of the same name by Dias Gomes.

Zé, a simple man with strong religious faith, made this promise under desperate circumstances in the hope of saving his beloved donkey.

Fearing the loss of the animal that is crucial to his work, Zé, despite being a devout Catholic, makes a syncretic vow at a terreiro (a place of Afro-Brazilian religious worship), promising to Saint Barbara—who, in syncretic Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé, is also associated with the African deity Iansã—that if his donkey recovers, he will carry a large wooden cross from his home to the Church of Saint Barbara in Salvador, Bahia.

Miraculously, the donkey survives, and Zé, feeling bound by his vow, embarks on his long pilgrimage, carrying a heavy cross over his shoulders like Jesus.

He heads to the Church of Saint Barbara to fulfill his vow by placing the cross in front of the altar, expecting a simple gesture of thanks and devotion.

As time passes and Zé remains in front of the church, holding his cross and begging to be allowed inside, his physical and mental state deteriorates.

The peaceful, devout man, who only wanted to keep his promise, dies in the chaos created by a rigid system that could not accommodate his faith or understand the depth of his devotion.

The film ends on a deeply somber note, reflecting the bitter irony of Zé’s journey: the man who was barred from the church in life is carried into it as a martyr in death.