O Ebrio

Gilda de Abreu’s 1946 film O Ebrio is an emotional drama about one man’s triumphs and tragedies under the influence of those around him. The film focuses on Gilberto Silvia, a man whose life journey is used as a metaphor for the evils of material wealth and greed versus the infallible goodness of the church.

The film begins with Silvia as an impoverished man looking for help. Down on his luck, he seeks aid in his distant family who simply avoids him, citing the financial cost of supporting another family member. Silvia next seeks refuge in a church, where he is fed and housed by a kind and generous priest, helping him get back on his feet. These first two encounters provide the initial commentary for the film on the value of religion versus money. Refused aid by his own family under their greed-driven reasoning, it is only through the charity of the church that he is able to get back on his feet. After befriending the priest and beginning to get his life together, Silvia enters a local singing contest. Despite his impoverished appearance in comparison to his fellow competitors, Silvia uses his god-given gift of vocal talent and wins the singing contest, leaving him large sums of money. Our protagonist then uses this money to put himself through medical school, becoming one of the most caring doctors in his hospital. It is here where Silvia meets his wife, Marieta. An announcement is released in the local paper giving details about the upcoming wedding of the renowned radio singer and doctor. Silvia’s greedy family gets wind of the ceremony and plans to attend the wedding unannounced, in hopes of getting on Silvia’s good side and getting a portion of his riches. In the church, the cousins trick Marieta into believing their relationship with Silvia is solid. The church serves as an ironic location choice for this toxic reunion, as it is from this point forward that Silvia’s family begins to work their way into his life, eventually ruining it. After mooching a substantial amount of money from the generous Silvia, his family’s greed causes them to plot against him. In a plan designed to destroy his marriage and take all of his money, his cousins stage a love affair that causes his wife to leave him. Consequently, Silvia sees no point in living anymore and fakes his own death. His relatives hope to inherit his fortune, but are left with nothing. Instead, Silvia leaves most of his money to the church and the priest, noting that it should be given to charity. Silvia leads the rest of his life as a bum, remarking that in death his suffering will be over.

Despite the variety of messages presented in the film (i.e. the incompetence of women, the evils of alcohol), it is truly in the ideology of the church that the film’s overall moral is based. The film presents the happiest times in Silvia’s life as a direct result of the charity of the priest and church. Likewise, the film seems to equate the most difficult times as a consequence of money; his hardships in the beginning, the betrayal of his family, and finally the failure of his marriage, all direct results of the greed of others. It is with the complexity of material wealth that Silvia’s happiness is destroyed, a stark contrast to the happy simplicity of his life at the church. It is through these messages that Abreu conveys the religious climate of Brazil at this time; presented similarly to some of the other films we’ve seen thus far. Abreu uses the typical cinematic tactics (singing, romance, love scandals, alcohol, etc) to draw audiences in, only to provide a religious message that rejects these ideals.