Black Orpheus

Though criticised in its native country for stereotyping the Latin mentality, Black Orpheus"" is nonetheless a stunning film

Film Review by Lucy Weir | 12 Mar 2007
Film title: Black Orpheus
Release date: 19 March.
Marcel Camus' transference of the Greek Orpheus myth to Rio de Janeiro's Carnival won surprise critical acclaim after its 1959 release, claiming the Palme d'Or as well as an Academy Award, and the BFI's shiny new print is now being tranfered to DVD for the first time. The film was certainly a bold undertaking for its period, with a largely amateur, entirely black cast, shot on location in Brazil. Though criticised in its native country for stereotyping the Latin mentality, Black Orpheus is nonetheless a stunning film. Unseen drummers pervade almost every scene, initially a signal of the non-stop party, later an ominous marker of Eurydice's hours ticking by. The comic melodrama of the opening switches to darker themes as the film comes to its conclusion: Death, clad in a skeleton costume, relentlessly pursuing Eurydice; Charon the ferryman, here the night-watchman of a deserted government building, emerging from the darkness endlessly sweeping papers of missing persons; and finally, the beautifully shot closing scene of a traditional ritual ceremony. [Lucy Weir]
Release Date: 19 March.