Slaves of the Saints
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA:
Film title: “Slaves of the Saints”; Director: Kelly E. Hayes, Story/Editor: Catherine Crouch; Year made: 2010; Country of production: United States; Language of film: Portuguese with English subtitles; Length of film: 64 minutes.
GENRE:
Documentary (ethnographic documentary)
SYNOPSIS:
“Slaves of the Saints” is an ethnographic documentary about Afro-Brazilian religions that combine African traditions, folk Catholicism, and Spiritualism. Popular in urban centers like Rio de Janeiro, these religions center on a range of spiritual beings believed to actively intervene in human affairs, for good or ill. The documentary focuses on devotion to exus and pombagiras—unruly characters depicted as “spirits of the streets” and associated with black magic. Eschewing voiceover narration, the film relies on firsthand accounts and vivid footage of ceremonies, including possession trances, to capture the sensory reality of these spiritual practices. The result is a richly detailed depiction of a possession religion in which practitioners’ everyday struggles are addressed through both dramatic ritual performances and the crafting of material objects—shrines, protective talismans, and “trabalhos” (spiritual works)—tailored to individual needs.
BACKGROUND/CONTEXT:
Director Kelly E. Hayes is a Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Indianapolis. The documentary was produced with Catherine Crouch and draws on footage collected in Rio de Janeiro over ten years. It was distributed as a companion to Hayes’s book “Holy Harlots: Femininity, Sexuality, and Black Magic in Brazil” (University of California Press, 2011). The film premiered at the Rio International Film Festival before screening at festivals worldwide.
KEYWORDS:
- Ethnographic
- Afro-Brazilian religions
- Spirit possession
- Religious marginality
- Esoteric practices
ACADEMIC COMMENTARY
What makes the film relevant for esoteric studies?
“Slaves of the Saints” provides exceptional documentation of practices that exemplify all four criteria of esotericism. The film captures Afro-Brazilian religious traditions that operate through goal-oriented spiritual interventions, require specialized initiatory knowledge, employ causally opaque ritual methods, and exist in contested relationship with dominant Brazilian religious and social norms.
Where and how does the film address esoteric practices?
Goal-Oriented Spiritual Interventions: The film shows how these traditions focus on pragmatic problems regarding health, money, gender relations, and romantic and sexual partnerships, and documents practitioners consulting exus and pombagiras for help with specific dilemmas. It also
Specialized Knowledge/Expertise: The film explains the complex initiatory hierarchies and specialized knowledge systems that operate within Afro-Brazilian religions. This knowledge is transmitted largely through oral and experiential methods. It requires extended learning of how to properly summon and interact with various spiritual entities: their specific likes and dislikes, taboos, rhythms, songs, and dances, preferred foods, colors, and material items; their mythological corpus and interrelationships; a large pharmacopeia of herbal knowledge used for spiritual purification and healing; and the practices through which one initiates others. Specialized knowledge also includes African-derived systems of divination using cowry shells, the prescription of trabalhos or “spiritual works” involving specific offerings, ritual baths, and observance of taboos. The film reveals strategies of revelation and concealment in how these knowledge systems are transmitted and practiced.
Ritual Efficacy and Opacity: The documentary captures the central practice of spirit incorporation where mediums become possessed by spiritual entities, a process that is causally opaque and cannot be directly apprehended by the observer but only indirectly through alterations in the possessed person’s voice and manner. The film documents how specific ritual elements – colors, offerings, locations, timing – are believed to produce spiritual effects through mechanisms that remain concealed, such as how red and black colors and specific offerings like alcohol and cigarettes facilitate communication with exus and pombagiras.
Contested and Precarious Nature: The film documents the stigma that continues to invest Afro-Brazilian religions, which were outlawed and severely persecuted by the authorities well into the late 20th century and which continue to be considered illicit by many Brazilians. The documentary focuses on “spirits of the streets,” controversial entities often associated with black magic, highlighting both their precarious status and the social precarity of their devotees.
What is esoteric about the film?
The documentary reveals practices that are fundamentally esoteric according to CAS-E’s four-criteria working definition. The traditions documented operate through goal-oriented spiritual technologies for influencing life circumstances, require specialized initiatory knowledge transmitted through complex hierarchies, employ causally opaque ritual methods involving spirit possession and divination, and exist in contested relationship with dominant Brazilian religious and social institutions. The film’s emphasis on ritual performance particularly highlights how these traditions prioritize experiential gnosis and practical spiritual efficacy over established doctrinal authority, positioning them clearly within esoteric rather than exoteric religious frameworks.
Kelly E. Hayes
