A MAGICAL JOURNEY BACK TO BRAZIL : "BLACK ORPHEUS"

Honestly, I am not sure how to categorize this film. It is a Brazilian “phenomenon”. This is true in more senses than one; back in 1960, the year of its birth, the film made off with every prestigious award available from the Oscar for Best Foreign film to a Golden Palm at Cannes. It is an adaptation of the story of Orpheus to Brazil of the ‘60s. Now on hearing that, you may or may not be sure how well it will work out. Believe me though, director Marcel Canmus makes it work.
Now, first and foremost let’s have a quick re-cap of the myth of Orpheus; it is rather important to remember it seeing as the film is an adaptation. Right, so, pretty much all of you have heard of Kybele, right? Greek goddess, that took care of the earth, harvests and seasons and such like. Right, so, she had a daughter, Euridyce. And Euridyce was as beautiful as can be, the most beautiful maiden there ever was. So much so that even Hades, the god of the underworld (death) fell in love with her and decided not to wait for it to be her time to take her and thus one day he snatched her and took her away to his underground kingdom. Kybele was, as you can imagine, distraught, as was Orpheus, Euridyce’s lover. Orpheus was so distraught that he decided to enter the kingdom of Hades and fetch back his beloved. So off he set, had many adventures (we can cut that bit short) and in short reached Hades. Hades was not best pleased with the insistent young man; however, his emotion, and Orpheus’s brilliant singing voice, touched him. So he decides to set Orpheus a challenge. Euridyce can follow him up above ground, however, she will walk behind him, unable to make a single sound and Orpheus may not once turn round to check if she’s still there. If he does, the deal is off. This seems easy, right? But the way back up is long and human curiosity overcomes, Orpheus does turn back and Euridyce is snatched back underground. Now that seems an opportune point for a tragic finale, but no, it’s not. Hearing of Orpheus’s failure (and no doubt muttering “If you want something done properly do it yourself, my fault for trusting a man”) Kybele intervenes. Hades is even further moved by the distraught mother and decides to make a deal. So to this day, Euridyce spends half the year above ground, half the year below. Kybele’s mood fluctuates accordingly, she is overjoyed when her daughter is there (spring and summer) and distraught when she is gone (autumn and winter) and hence we have the seasons. Nice story no? I may have omitted details but this is it basically.
Now, Black Orpheus has a slightly different slant on the story, obviously. The whole thing takes place in the slums of Rio. It is carnival time, music, dance and madness is in the air; everyone has laid aside their daily cares and is preparing to show off their dance skills and costumes. Orpheus is a tram conductor. His girlfriend Mira wants to settle and marry, and although he agrees in principal, in practice he uses his last money to get his guitar back from a pawnshop, not for a ring. And carnival time brings romance in the shape of Euridyce, the cousin of his neighbor Serafina, who has arrived to visit Rio. Now Euridyce and Orpheus fall madly in love; however, Euridyce has a problem. There is a maniac after her, trying to kill her. Orpheus swears to protect her, but sadly fails. Unable to accept the death of his beloved, Orpheus then sets off on a quest, (to the Rio morgue) to retrieve his beloved from the jaws of death.
On reading the blurb on the back of the DVD I was worried on a number of levels. In the first place, given the various influences in this film, I reckoned it would be too tragic. I mean a Brazilian soap opera crossed with a Greek tragedy if you see what I mean. Yes, I quite agree. Yuck. First of all, let me soothe your mind if you have had the same worry. The overall tone of the film is quite joyous, and the theme of rebirth that dominates the finale of the myth (you know, spring returning every year and all that) is definitely kept up – although I can’t explain how that is done at this juncture. And not only does the film take place during carnival time, but from what I gather most of the actors of the film are professional dancers (which, it has to be said, makes the acting a tad stilted in places and in the case of minor characters, but the film somehow carries this through..). And there is a reason for preferring dancers to professional actors, because in the film there are long sequences of characters (or in fact extras!) just singing and showing off their samba skills, much in the style of old-school musical “numbers”. And shall I tell you something? I watched entranced. The talent and the beauty of the dancing is so great and conveys the joy of carnival so well that you cannot help but be imbued with the pervading joy. However, just as skilled is the complete change of tone of the same scenes as Euridyce’s killer appears on the scene. The dancing crowd suddenly becomes sinister as the chase begins. By the way, yes the unexplained killer is just a touch iffy. I’m letting that one slip. But even if the film is a good one for the most part, the true mastery begins in the last 15 - 20 minutes and Orpheus’s quest into the underworld. High running emotions meet some quite stunning cinematography to make a film that merits every single award it gets… Keep an open mind and give this little monkey a spin. Be it the dancing, the cinematography or the canny way the myth has been adapted, you’ll find something to impress you.