The first thing that jumped out to me when watching black Orpheus was the title sequence breaking into the Brazilians dancing. This abrupt and loud transition is something that I haven’t really seen that many times in a movie. It seems like the movie is trying to tell us from the very beginning what it is and what it isn’t. And what it isn’t is a conventional telling of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
When the camera followed the carnival parade through the rural parts of the country, it really seemed to signify a common cultural moment for everyone in the village, something they all knew about and could relate to. This was further built upon when there were similar celebrations in the city, where everyone was in on the celebration. What seemed to be an escape from everyday life or a momentary pause brought to them through cultural means.
As Eurydice went on into the city the most striking thing for me was how all the locals knew she was from out of town, as though her not expressly dancing in the carnival and not taking part in the cultural event was a clear indicator of her being foreign. And of course, it’s striking to see the gender relations borne out in the first 11 minutes as she is constantly receiving attention from men. Quite a string difference would be that between Eurydice and Mira, the two female characters we are introduced to. Eurydice being naive and soft-spoken, something that’s shown in a positive light, and Mira is quite brash and confident in her looks which we sense to be a negative trait in women especially.