after few good years from I saw it, the memories are are about its poetry. a poetry including samba and Rio and voodoo and Latino spirit and crumbs from Cocteau universe and social references and folklore and impeccable acting. the same Ancient story. only the frame is different. and it remains different in a special manner. because it is a love story from the "50. the mark of decade is the basic source of seduction /interest today. and the web of dance, dialogues and carnival. the shining skin and the rhythm of music. the air of dream and the exotic flavors. a film who remains great today like in its period. because it is , in profound sense, one of the cinematography purpose definition.

If you decide to watch this movie, I hope you like dancing, because that is what half the movie is, and it is monotonous, repetitive dancing to monotonous, repetitive music.The movie is based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but it's not any better than the myth was. Orpheus asks his girlfriend Mira to marry him, and then on the same day, he meets Eurydice and has sex with her. Then, instead of at least breaking off his engagement, he just dances with Eurydice at the carnival in front of Mira. So, he's a louse, right? Wrong. The movie wants us to like Orpheus and despise Mira. You figure it out.Anyway, there is a guy running around with a death mask on who wants to kill Eurydice and eventually succeeds. We don't know why, because she says she never had anything to do with him. I guess we are supposed to accept this as mythologically inevitable. Or, you can just assume the guy is wearing a hockey mask.

I like to take this movie not as a retelling, but as a joint work made with both the author's vision and various nods to the myth, just enough to let you follow the original plot and also make you smile at the references. Black Orpheus, or Orpheu Negro, is a wonderful piece on life and love's meaning, as shown on the lovely ambiance of the Rio carnival. If a bit slow at first, it immediately catches speed, as well as our hearts, as soon as Orpheu and Eurydice meet, showing us just how nice life can be, as well as how devastating it is to lose the meaning of life itself. The film does what a romantic or drama film should do at its best: showcase not only the character's emotions, but the watchers emotions as well, making up for a joyful ride.

I agree with the reviewer who says it is a successful attempt to recreate an old myth in modern times, but take it a step further and add it is a magnificent attempt, one that has not gotten the attention it deserves.As a young adult, seeing it made me look at film story-telling in a different perspective; how an ensemble of actors, with a great screenplay, can take a story written in the clouds and bring it down to earth so easily and realistically. I can tell you that I only had the desire to see it once, but it has stayed with me as one of those enlightened moments, and in black and white, as it should be.I think it is a classic, made at a time when the world was on the verge of transformation, yet not quite there yet, which makes it all the more remarkable.