Vidas Secas

Director - Nelson Pereira dos Santos
Writer - Nelson Pereira dos Santos & Graciliano Ramos

Cast Character

Atila Torio - Fabiano
Maria Ribeiro - Sinha Vitoria
Orlando Macedo - Soldado Amarelo
Joffre Soares - Fazendeiro
Gilvan Lima - Boy (as Gilvan)
Genivaldo Lima - Boy (as Genivaldo)

Vidas Secas begins in northeast Brazil with a family looking for work. In a pan shot we see the family in the distance of the barren desert. The father, Fabiano, feeds his children a little bit of rice and his wife, Sinha, enough food to survive. They eat their pet parrot in desperation of food. Sinha says it is useless to continue and that they'll never get there. She complains how the sand hurts her feet. The sun beats sow on them while the boy falls down and cries. Fabiano tells him to get up and keep walking. An excellent triangular shot has Sinha framed on the right taking more space with Fabiano in the distance - she is domineering, cold and distant.

They arrive at a small ranch which Fabiano investigates. The dog Baleia brings some joy to the son in their miserable existence. Their clothes are tattered and worn - hopeless of their lives. They look to the sky remarking it will rain soon. She clenches her husband which eases his need for her affection. This intimacy though turns her off and she releases him keeping her distance. She rewards the dog who catches a squirrel for them to eat. The house they find might prove fruitful for farming. They hope only to have a leather bed one day like that of Tomas whose house they are in.


The man who visits tells them to leave but Fabiano tells him he can be a good cowhand. He tells the man that for every four calves born he will keep one. The man agrees to the deal. They herd the cattle and are so poor out of boredom the boy makes a little toy cow out of feces. They brand the cattle and attempt to tame them if possible. The wife figures out their accounts and at 100,000 for each hired hand soon they can afford their dream - a leather bed. They want to be dandies. Fabiano takes a trip to town to hopefully settle his accounts. He pleads with the boss that the money is not enough but the boss counters that he has lent him money all year and the little money he gets is a result of interest. The man tells him he can take it or leave it. Fabiano tells him that it isn't right and that he isn't a slave. Desperate Fabiano finally complies.

Outside he tries to sell a pig and is met by a man who tells him he must pay taxes. The tax official and Fabiano argue and he lets Fabiano go home not wanting to waste time. The family travels to a small town and go to church. Fabiano leaves and goes to a bar instead. A public official offers to play a card game with Fabiano in the bar. The official gambles everything and Fabiano leaves. He meets him outside and harasses him. He steps on Fabiano's foot and calls for the police. The official lies to the police about Fabiano insulting him and resisting arrest. Fabiano is severely whipped appealing to the official's sadistic humor. Now in jail Fabiano cries at his sudden and immense loss. The other prisoner helps him by putting his shirt under Fabiano's head making a small pillow. Meanwhile his family waits while a performance ensues outside.

The boss comes to the jail and has Fabiano released. He is given a shotgun and offered a job by some bandits but after seeing his family he declines. At home a superstitious doctor heals Fabiano. The boy asks his mother what hell is and she tells him it's where the damned go. He asks if she's ever been there and she hits him and he runs outside to cry. He looks at the house and says, "Hell." He looks at the landscape and says, "hot pokers." He looks at his father and says, "the damned." He talks to his dog and realizes the poverty and his father's unlucky damned existence and mother's scorn proves he is already in Hell.

Sinha says she wants to die and get her life over with. She looks around and gathers undrinkable water. She sees dead land, dead opportunity and dead souls. She argues with her husband as why he had to gamble their money away. He argues why she had to buy expensive shoes. Cooled off she looks outside saying the sun will kill the cattle. Fabiano curses the birds who drink the cattle's water. The sun burns through. They stare at it. She prays. He smokes his cigarette saying the cattle will eventually catch fire and there is no use waiting. They hyperventilate dying of thirst. The boss comes and tells him he will get his cattle tomorrow. They disappear and Fabiano searches for them. He stumbles across the man who beat him and contemplates killing him. He hears the cow he lost and must decide between the two. Desperate for food Fabiano searches for the dog to kill and eat. He shoots it.

Broken with despair Sinha turns to the only thing that comforts the desperate - optimism and idealism. She asks Fabiano if he thinks they will find a better place. He says, "maybe yes, maybe no." She says they will have a new life somewhere with plenty of crops. She says the boys will go to school - learn to read and do math. They keep walking until they see the barren landscape accepting the hell that is ahead of them.