During the beginning of the movie Black Orpheus there’s a constant group of people and upbeat music. I liked how these big groups had people of all ages in terms of children up to seniors dancing and celebrating altogether. As in a celebration and there’s lots of dancing and something that stood out to me was the consistency of the drum beats throughout as Eurydice is walking back up the mountain countryside to her home. When she got there, two younger boys were playing with a kite before it transitioned to the next scene with her going into Rio. I think that the kite falling was foreshadowing that a big change was going to take place in her life, perhaps due to the little boy losing control of his kite not the best change.

Once in the city Sarafina is very out of place in terms of knowing where she is going and trying to find her way. I liked how the drum beats and music continued into this scene as they were in the opening scene near her home. As she is getting off the boat in Rio she bumps into a man who is blind and he offers her help for a little while. As she is trying to find her way there is a switch in terms of the people celebrating from the local market she’s wandering through to a main city street. In the local market you have a lot of people drumming still and dancing around with large groups of people from all different ages and then this transitions to the city where there is a more organized marching band celebrating the lead up to carnival. This is perhaps a way to show the different class systems that will be present throughout the movie.

As Sarafina is walking she is grabbed and put on a trolly that eventually she stays on the whole way to the end of the line. When she gets off she first meets Orpheus who directs her to the stations guard as she is trying to find her cousins house. This is the first time that Orpheus is flirting with her. When he goes to pick up his paycheck we get the sense that he is a bit of a playboy as his friends are laughing at him and asking if that might be another one of his conquests. While the guard is giving Sarafina directions, Mira (Orpheus fiance) is introduced to us. This is where things get complicated as they are on their way to pick up their marriage license however Orpheus is very obviously still flirting and “making eyes” at Sarafina. Mira is very hot blooded about this (and rightfully so). As Orpheus is her fiance and they are on their way to pick up their marriage license. As we can see this might be a sign of the times or different culture Orpheus shrugs it off as just being nice and friendly and they go on their way.