I got a B in Classical Mythology. Could’ve gone better, could’ve gone worse, whatever. If I learned nothing else from the class, I did learn that mythology played a role in ancient Greek society like we cannot imagine, and that in today’s society, the stories and themes are more prevalent than we know.
And upon watching “Black Orpheus,” I was glad to have the background knowledge necessary to fully grasp the greatness of this film.
Marcel Camus’s movie takes place in Rio de Janiero during Carnivale and through this modern lens recreates the heroic myth of Orpheus and Eurydice without ever actually betraying the realism of the setting.
However, the film is loaded with symbolism to the story and most notably its themes, but I can see how a strict reading of the film without the proper context would be an empty one. This is for the reason that “Black Orpheus” is certainly not a performance film, and the many histrionics that compose this tragic love triangle can be a bit much. Further, while it is alive with color from the Rio landscape, the film only has a select few moments of truly cinematic beauty, and for a person confused with the plot, those flashes of greatness may be lost. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Black Orpheus”