Quand la rivière devient noire

This is a powerful story and a beautiful movie. Worth seeing if you can find it. The photography and the images are stunning. I saw the movie last on a Olympic cruise down the Amazon which made it even more magical.

The movie tells the story of Lazaro, son of a priest and a beautiful woman who lived deep in the Amazon jungle. When Lazaro's mother is killed the dolphins raise him and the local Indians begin to call him Dolphin Boy believing he is part human, part dolphin. It is a powerful story of Lazaro's conflicts with society but it is also the conflict between nature and man or progress. As others have commented it is the kind of movie that only comes along once every ten years.

If you enjoy the movie you should look for the original book Lazaro by David Kendall. The imagery in the book is so vivid in some ways it is better than the movie.

I was fourteen years of age when I first saw this film. For me, the experience was magical. I didn't know what this film had that created an aura of mysteriousness and intrigue, but I remember seeing it again a few years later and looking everywhere to purchase a copy.

The young boy, Lazarus, has an affinity with the dolphins of the Amazon jungle and it is wonderfully captured in the screenplay. As young actors go, this boy is wonderful as Lazarus. His expressions are true to life and the scenes where he is brought from the wild to adapt to civilisation are naturally brought out. The scene where he is mischievous with his orphan friend under the water tap captures the magical experience of childhood.

The scene where his father rows quietly along the river makes you feel as if you're in the boat with him.

I think you need to watch this film two or three times to fully appreciate the story it is telling.

This movie, if I remember correctly, originally aired on HBO.

A friend of mine taped it for me and sent it to me as a gift because he had an idea I would like it.

Boy, was that an understatement.

The movie reminded me of a Tarzan movie called "Tarzan And The Jungle Boy", where they find a boy who crashed in the jingle and spent years there before he was found.

The two brothers who play Lazaro, Alessandro Rabelo and Marcelo Rabelo, look so much alike that it's no wonder they chose them to play the same character at different ages. They both give a stunning performance as the adoreable jungle boy.

This is a very touching film, which has always fascinated me as I do have an interest in feral children. The film, based on David Kendall's novel 'Lazaro', revolves around young Lazaro, a child raised deep in the Amazonian jungle by his mother following the death of his priest father before he was born. Mother and son live a happy, idyllic life until gold-hunters enter their territory and end up murdering Lazaro's mother. Left to fend for himself, he is then taken in by the dolphins who live in the river and protect their human charge from predators as they would their own calves. Some years later, when Lazaro is about ten or so, he is then found and brought to the city where his father's mentor vows to care for him and make him civilised. But Lazaro is more intent in revenge when he sees the man who killed his mother...

The acting from Alessandro Rabelo, who plays Lazaro, and Ajay Naidu, who was cast in the role of Lazaro's best friend, was excellent. You can't help but grow attached to the boys and care for their plight. Charles Durning also gave a masterful performance as the priest who just wanted to do right by Lazaro; he had such a rapport with young Rabelo, leaving the audience convinced of the growing bond between the two. The haunting music only adds to the sense of mysticism and spirituality conjured up by the storyline of the film.

'Where the River Runs Black' really is a one of a kind and I highly recommend it to anyone just looking for something that bit different. It touches many issues, from the plight of rescuing feral children (is there a point where they should just be left alone?) to whether we have a right to seek vengeance when we are wronged to environmental issues (the cutting down of the rain forests). It's a film that stays with you forever.

I haven't seen this movie for years, but it has always "haunted" me, and I have never been able to forget it. I have frequently looked for it on DVD, hoping to see it pop up in stores or on Amazon, but it is apparently only available online as used VHS. I don't own it in any form, so I am wondering what the latest news is as to a future release on DVD.

Since I was very young, I have been a fan of jungle movies. Many of them have had shallow and silly plots, but this movie is about the human spirit's ability to survive. It is a beautiful story, and is visually stunning. It's right up there with "The Emerald Forest" which came out the same year.