2
hate the mind numbing
without end headache pounding
incessant drumming

3
sweet love shared even
after his hand throws the light
of her death, his fall

[Okay, kind of hokey, but I wanted to write something different. As I told Matt, I'm still casting about for my voice.]

That out of the way…here comes my review.

“Black Orpheus” is based on a Greek Tragedy. Now, I’m not really hip on what is Greek but I do know what a tragedy is and it certainly means that no one in the end is going to ride off into the sunset with their loved one making “googly” eyes at them to live happily ever after.

So…with a vague idea of how this is going to end – even before I’ve started it – I plopped the DVD into my 7” player and decided to be whisked away to the magical land of Rio De Janeiro.

Now, I’ve seen Shakespeare’s tragedies moved to more “modern” settings such as New York for “West Side Story” so I’m not that shocked when a story gets moved to a different location. I can buy that. But Rio during “Carnival?”

Now, if Jason didn’t comment on “Carnival” above – let me give you my overall take without doing any research whatsoever on it. “Carnival” is the Rio/South American equivalent of “Mardi Gras” which, of course, literally means “Fat Tuesday.” “Fat Tuesday” of course comes before “Ash Wednesday” and the whole purpose is to get a load on, sleep with as many people as possible, expose your breasts, collect bead necklaces, eat lots and lots of meat for the next day it will be Lent and you’ll have to not do all those things for 40 days. “Mardi Gras” starts, I think, a week or two before “Ash Wednesday” – I don’t know about “Carnival” but would assume, back in 1957 when “Black Orpheus” was made – that it took place a week before the beginning of Lent or maybe the actually TUESDAY before Ash Wednesday.

So…setting a Greek tragedy in amongst the debauchery of people drinking, partying, living it up to the hilt…isn’t that big of a stretch and could very well be an interesting mix of not only cultures but themes. You know, like setting a brutal murder of a family at Disneyland.

The story starts out with us following a gal named Serafina. Soon, though, Serafina will not be our female of main interest. That will be Eurydice – but she doesn’t show up for 10 minutes or so. In the meantime we meet Mira. You see Mira is in love with Orpheus who is a cable car driver. He’s a happy-go-lucky chap who plays the guitar but doesn’t have a lot of money (in fact he pays to get his guitar out of the pawn shop instead of buying Mira an engagement ring). Mira, who we first see poured into a dress so tight, I’m surprised she can even breathe wants to get married and is in love with Orpheus. Orpheus, though in love with her, has other things on his mind – like getting his guitar out of hock.

When they finally make to the office to get the wedding license the clerk makes a joke out of how Orpheus must be marrying Eurydice. Mira doesn’t take too kindly to this off-hand jokey comment. But the seed is planted in Orpheus’s brain.

Where is Eurydice? Well…she’s on the ferry from “the island” (or someplace) and she is cousin to Serafina. She’s a girl full of life and wonder and good teeth and ready to head to the BIG CITY and make a life. When she accidentally stays on Orpheus’s street car all the way to the end, he yells at her to get off but helps her find her friend’s house.

Before we can say “plot twist” they’re suddenly in love and Orpheus wants her…now.

Wait! I know what you’re thinking: “Where the heck is “Carnival?” Well…it’s all around them. You see in Rio for “Carnival” they, uh, dance. And dance. And dance. AND DANCE. And dance some more. There are moments that grind the film to a halt just to see Mira shake her groove thing and dance. There is a parade, too and some parties – which come in later – but mostly it’s just people dancing and prancing about.

Orpheus, now in love with Eurydice, wants to hook up with her. With guitar in hand he sings songs and the local boys look up to him so much that they’ve determined that the sun will not rise unless Orpheus sings.

***author note: At this point in the film I was wondering if this film somehow influenced the directors who went on to make the Frankie and Annette beach movies. If they killed off Frankie and Annette at the end, it would probably be eerily similar to “Black Orpheus.”***

Now, out of the blue two basic things happen. 1. Eurydice announces to Hermes the friendly cable car supervisor that she left the island (or whatever) because there was a man there following her determined to kill her. Who is this man? Why would he want to kill her? I have no idea – and they don’t explain it either. Maybe Eurydice is just paranoid. And 2. Mira COMPLETELY disappears. Oh, she shows up here and there but that plot line of marrying Orpheus suddenly takes a back seat to Orpheus’s relationship with Eurydice and her paranoia. At this point I was waiting for a really good cat fight and hair pulling and accusatory finger pointing that you would see on a Jerry Springer episode. But, sadly, that didn’t happen.

What does happen is that Orpheus and Eurydice split the sheets and he’s happy and they go to a party where SUDDENLY a guy dressed as a skeleton shows up and tries to kill her. Again…WHO is this guy? WHY does he want to kill her? We have no idea and it’s never explained.

Eurydice runs, guy chases her, Orpheus chases guy, knives are flashed, people dance(!), and Eurydice runs into the arms of Hermes who says to her: “Go to my place, you’ll be safe.” Now…you’d think that she’d not want to wander off in the dark again to go to Hermes’ pad but you’d be wrong. Off she goes when the skeleton guy goes after her.

Finding refuge in the cable-car house, she stays away from her killer by climbing aboard the top of a cable car and holding on to cables.

When Orpheus comes to find her, he flips on a switch inadvertently causing Eurydice to be electrocuted and killed. At which point Skeleton Man says: “Now she’s mine.” Okay, dude, if you’re into dead chicks… Then Skeleton Man kicks Orpheus’s ass and jumps onto the ambulance like Spider-man (or Venom as Jason so rightly described)!

Waking up after the beat down, Orpheus is distraught. And though Hermes says she’s dead and was taken to the morgue – he instead goes to the hospital CONVINCED that she’s still alive. Since this is a Greek tragedy we know she ain’t coming back. After the quick trip to the hospital he heads to the missing person’s bureau after a police officer who knows him points to the proper floor. This is AFTER the officer tries to get Orpheus to show him some of his great dance moves…no…I’m not kidding.

All he finds in missing persons is, well, paper.

Still avoiding the morgue he gets dragged to a revival meeting where people, uh, dance. And are filled with “the spirit.” He stands there for an interminably long time. Nearly painful for a viewer like me. Yes, people are dancing. Yes, there are statues. Yes, she’s filled with the sprit. Yes, people are dancing. Yes, there are statues…repeat. Finally he hears Eurydice’s voice. She’s BEHIND HIM! But he can’t look – finally he looks and the voice is coming from an old lady filled, I assume, with Eurydice’s spirit. Orpheus beats her up. Okay, not really, but he does push her. Dick.

FINALLY he goes to the morgue and finds his beautiful Eurydice and carries her body all the way home. About a hundred yards off, and next to a cliff, he sees a fire and Mira (FINALLY!) is in a fight with someone and she takes a rock and throws it at Orpheus who falls WITH Eurydice still in his arms to his death.

The End!

WHAT I LIKED:

Color film was nice. Rio looks like an interesting place to visit.

Mira’s skin tight dress.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

Most of it. A lot of it seemed pretty pointless. Plots that went no where, things that just seemed inserted to keep the story moving. Characters that come and go and really no one that I cared much about. Maybe if I knew more of the original Greek tragedy. Maybe if there was a good cat fight between Mira and Eurydice. Maybe if there was, I don’t know, 20 minutes of dancing cut out of the film…

Bottom line: Nothing that great on all fronts. I now consider this the worst of the bunch. “Beauty and the Beast” is looking better.