ORFEU A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): **
"There is much danger in life for those who love," ORFEU tells us in voice-over in its introduction. Dangerous indeed. Inspired by Marcel Camus's BLACK ORPHEUS, Carlos Diegues's ORFEU is a rambling, romantic tale that is laced with gratuitous violence.
Set in the Rio de Janeiro slums during Brazil's famous Carnival time, the movie tells of a charismatic lover named Orfeu (Toni Garrido), who has had more women that the grains of sand in the Copacabana beaches. His current girlfriend, Mira (Isabel Fillardis), is on the cover of Playboy, which she likes to run around showing off to everyone.
The slums are the setting for a surreal civil war. On one side are armies of police with machine guns, and on the other are equally well-armed drug dealers. As the shots pierce the thin walls of the homes, people are remarkably and unrealistically complacent until they are personally shot by stray bullets. Innocent bystanders stand along the streets unconcerned as if some unseen angel were protecting them from the bullets zipping by them.
Suggesting that the bad guys are perhaps really the good ones, the story has the drug gangs enact their own vigilante justice. One rapist, having had gasoline poured all over him, is given the option of being burnt alive or jumping off the side of a tall cliff to his death. He has a hard time choosing.
Against this background, a fetching, black-haired beauty named Eurídice (Patrícia França) meets Orfeu. Instantly smitten by Orfeu, she quickly and happily loses her virginity to him.
Every time you are ready to completely give up on the movie, the camera pulls back to reveal another stunning vista, or the music comes up with an entrancing melody. Rio looks great at sunset, at midday and even in the rain. Best of all are the sumptuously colorful scenes of the Carnival dancers and floats. But like the rest of ORFEU, the cinematography is quite uneven. For every gorgeous outdoor scene there is a poorly filmed interior one. This leaves us with a few things to admire about ORFEU, but only a few.
ORFEU runs a long 1:40. The film is in Portuguese with English subtitles. It is not rated but would be an R for strong violence, nudity, sexuality and language.
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