Orfeu do Carnaval

If it does nothing else, seeing "Black Orpheus" will make you want to pack up immediately and go to Rio de Janeiro. The movie convinces you that the city's sparkling harbor and dramatic green hills must be one of the most beautiful landscapes on earth, especially when accompanied by a soundtrack of energetic samba and smooth bossa nova music. The cliffside shantytowns teem with vitality, and are never too poor to rig up an elaborately costumed samba show for Carnival. Even the fact that the movie retells a tragic Greek myth barely detracts from the overall effect. It makes Rio seem even more magical, a place where archetypal stories of love and death still hold their power.

In this version, Orfeu (Breno Mello) is a streetcar conductor who moonlights as a musician, and Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn) is an innocent country girl. The movie starts as a simple love triangle (Orfeu has an inconvenient fiancée) but becomes increasingly surreal as it progresses. Death, represented by a man in a skeleton suit, literally pursues Eurydice while going unnoticed by everyone else, who may assume he is just dressed up for Carnival. (His motivations are never explained, but perhaps he is jealous of Eurydice's youth and beauty.) The movie finds clever ways to depict the events of the original legend, and adds a wonderful sense of atmosphere, as Orfeu goes through the "underworld" in the middle of the night.

Lourdes de Oliveira and Léa Garcia give vivid supporting performances, as, respectively, Orfeu's jealous fiancée and Eurydice's exuberant cousin. I also liked the two scrappy, unsentimental street kids who idolize Orfeu.

Overall, "Black Orpheus" is a successful attempt to place a Greek myth in a modern context, retaining the story's original tragedy while adding new, contrasting flavors and rhythms. I would especially recommend it to fans of Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge," another color- and-music-saturated film with a love story inspired by the Orpheus legend.

There are so many reasons Black Orpheus is important to cinema. First, how many people know that prior to Marcel Camus making this film the late Orson Welles attempted to capture Rio Carnival but with no story, plot, or script? In 1942, Welles discovered voodoo was at the root of the carnival samba, and started filming in the favelas, the slum shanty towns on the hills of Rio...it was considered by Hollywood to be anti-establishment and dangerous by Brazilian authorities. Thus, Welles was not able to complete his film.

Samba is a Portuguese form of music, the word was derived from the West African bantu word "semba", meaning "invoke the spirit of the ancestors". Long outlawed as a dangerous expression of black slave culture, samba music eventually gained legitimacy and became a big part of carnival.

Nearly 20 years later Black Orpheus achieves what Welles was trying for and goes beyond it. To start Marcel Camus had a script to work from whereas Welles was trying to wing it on the spot. Camus successfully recreated the Orpheus-Eurydice myth using the Rio Carnival as the back drop. The main characters retain the mythological names, including the symbolic Death. This works because it is Afro-Latin culture where pagan-Christian names were more evident and because the Carnival itself was such an important part of the story. History manifests as a deja vu, a cyclical progression of event and re-incarnation, understood only by the occultic transformation of samba, trance and possession, for which the Carnival is the engine.

To those who misunderstand or are ignorant of samba, voodoo, or the Rio Carnival Black Orpheus may seem overwhelming, especially because of all the singing and dancing but samba (and Carnival) is ritual, in its most elementary form it is a raw cacophony of primitive drumming, clapping, chanting... and the droning cries of the dancers who stagger on the edge of the "stage", seeking possession and reincarnation.

Black Orpheus won the Palm d'Or in 1959 at Cannes. It was seen as progressive because it featured black actors and the pluralist culture of modern Brazil. It also gives outsiders a view inside of a ritualistic, non-Western culture and that is why it was and is so important to cinema.

My husband had never seen this film and he loves the Greek Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice...so I thought it was high time that he saw this classic. I took the opportunity of this year's Mardi Gras celebration (2024) to share it with him and fell in love all over again.

I am a huge Antonio Carlos Jobim fan, thanks to my father, and grew up listening and dancing to his music. So, you could say the musical backdrop of this film had a big impact on me in addition to the physical location or backdrop which is absolutely spectacular. If those two things aren't enough to bring you to this film, you can add in a modern retelling of the Greek love story/tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice.

It is easy to see why this won best foreign film during its time. The Carnival celebration during Mardi Gras is almost a character all of its own as opposed to just being a background theme intertwined with the story. There is so much culture depicted...everything from the preparation, to local bands and troupes or clubs, to the parade itself, to the practice of voodoo or a santaria like religion.

There are a lot of newcomers to acting, but the film doesn't suffer for it. In fact the fresh faces give this film some of its charm. And charming are both Breno Mello (Orfeu) and Marpessa Dawn (Eurydice). The foil to these two innocents is the sultry Lourdes de Oliveira (Mira), she was one of the few cast members with some experience under her belt and I couldn't take my eyes off of her when she was on screen...she was stunning. The two neighborhood boys who end this film together are wonderfully sympathetic and enjoyable strictly for their sweet innocence as they share the joy of a sunrise.

There is some controversy over the portrayal of this Brazilian neighborhood, but controversy or not I think this is a must see for fans of both foreign and classic film.

Rarely have we encountered movies like this one: a timeless mythical story from Greece brought to screen in Brazilian context, the couple come from the very heart of Brazilian society, from Rio. Yet, what links them is the same sweet feeling that have linked the people for thousands of years no matter what nationality, beliefs or family background. Yes, that is what BLACK ORFEUS offers undeniably. The great romance that bursts out in the magnificence and lavishness of Rio's carnival when, truly, body in dance combines with heart in love. Yet, is that the only reason for calling this movie classic? As a matter of fact, there have been lots of love stories on screen that were quickly forgotten. What is, in fact, the very uniqueness of BLACK ORFEUS that differs it from other movies and that makes it an interesting cinema production after all these years?

We could say, though ridiculous this may seem, that it is everything about this movie that makes it a timeless work on screen. Yet, such a generalized view may, of course, result in simplification and confusion. There are specifically two factors that make BLACK ORFEUS significant or still worth attention: the first one aforementioned timeless love story uniquely and accurately put in the context of Brazil, which, in itself, must have been a challenge due to its innovative nature but the task was beautifully crafted by the director; the second being the cinematography of the movie which still, after almost 50 years, appears to be astounding. Those two aspects, for many viewers, constitute this "everything." This enthusiasm may be compared to a beautiful painting you admire thanks to its exquisiteness. In the same way, any film which has an interesting story and is visually stunning occurs to be an unforgettable work of art. And indeed, BLACK ORFEUS is a lovely visual work, the colors are stunning and the imagery is brilliant. The gorgeous views of Rio, the beautiful moments of sunrise and the charming views of little houses overwhelm even the most cynical viewers. But what about the rest?

Such aspects like performances or action cannot be analyzed in terms of modern cinema, according to what we find in the majority of Hollywood productions. Acting is superb yet their evaluation is exposed to certain opinions that not necessarily occur consistent. These are all Brazilian actors, many of whom are unexperienced when concerning "grand cinema" but this very fact appears to be beneficial for the film since their performances result in authenticity and freshness. You really have a feeling that you watch real people in the very circumstances of the carnival in Rio and their love is genuine. There is a perfect chemistry between Breno Mello as Orfeus and Marpessa Dawn as Eurydice. They beautifully fit to their roles and even their life stories proved that mysterious link. Consider that they both died the same year... Lourdes Oliveira gives rather a funny performance as Mira but is also memorable.

IL ORFEU NEGRO is a very valuable film, a sweet and authentic love story that will for long maintain in your memory as body in dance during the carnival and heart in love during romance. I highly recommend it hoping that like the song of Orfeus was capable of bringing sunrise to the world, this movie will bring in many people the rise of quest for beauty and a profound admiration of tenderness. Only then we can find simple things unusual just like the little boy who perceived his kite as the beautiful sun.

Black Orpheus

I saw this film for the first time in the '60s and found it a beautiful

and poignant retelling of the legend. I thought about it off and on

over the years, however, since it was never shown on TV, it faded

from memory. Then in the 1980s, there it was in video format in a

store. It was very expensive (the most I've paid for one), but I was

so delighted to find it, I could hardly wait to get it home.

It was more beautiful and haunting than I remembered. There's a

special uniqueness in the way the inexorable tragedy plays out in

such an unorthodox setting. You know how it has to end, but you're

still drawn into the lives of the characters. How the director ever

conceived of something so original amazes me.

This film is a wonderful experience.