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Black Orpheus

July 25, 2010 by · Comments Off on Black Orpheus 

Black OrpheusBlack Orpheus, Winner of two Oscars for best foreign language film and the Palme d’Or Cannes Film Festival, Marcel Camus’s Black “Orfeo (Orpheus black) bears the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the madness of the twentieth century Carnival Rio de Janeiro. With amazing photography and charming, the soundtrack of the era, Black Orpheus was a cultural event, kicking off the fashion of the bossa nova that hi-fi sets across America to tour.

Marcel Camus’s 1959 update of the Greek myth features an all black cast and a story set in the frenetic energy of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. Orfeo, a streetcar conductor and excellent samba dancer, is engaged to Mira but in love with Eurydice. For his change of heart, Orpheus and his new doomed lover are pursued by a vengeful Mira and a death is determined by the feverish Carnival night. Camus at once demystifies and remystifies the old story, shifting not only its location but also the tone and context, forcing a reevaluation of the legend as a more passionate, pulsing, sensual experience.

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