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ORFEU

“Inconsequential”

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

ORFEU is an inconsequential movie from Brazil. It is a modern-day version of the Greek myth of Orpheus, a poet and musician who almost rescues his wife from Hell by charming Pluto and Persephone with his music. In the movie’s story, a songwriter in Rio named Orfeu puts on extravagant presentations that often win awards at carnival time. He falls in love with a beautiful woman from the country who’s visiting the city. While Orfeu is performing, the woman is accidentally shot dead by the local drug dealer, who dumps her body into the landfill in the poorest neighborhood where discarded bodies and trash are left to rot. Crazy with grief, Orfeu retrieves her body and tries to bring her back to life with his songs, but his efforts result in further tragedy.

ORFEU does not make full use of its Christian allusions, nor of its shots of the famous statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks Rio and the poor neighborhood where Orfeu decides to stay. There also does not seem to be all that much chemistry between the two leads. Finally, the movie contains foul language, sexual immorality and nudity, making it unsuitable for children

Content:

(RoRo, CC, LL, VV, S, NN, AA, DD, M) Romantic worldview of doomed lovers, plus protagonist’s father is a church-going Christian who encourages his son to ask God for help, there are some Christian allusions in the story & the movie shows a couple magnificent shots of the statue of Jesus Christ which overlooks Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, but movie’s ending is not God-centered; 42 obscenities & 5 profanities; moderate urban violence such as mob justice against pedophile, woman accidentally shot to death, police break up riot, man impaled by spear, & protagonist takes violent revenge; implied fornication; upper & rear male & female nudity; alcohol use & drunkenness; smoking, drug dealing & cocaine use; and, jealousy & vigilante justice.

More Detail:

ORFEU is an inconsequential movie from Brazil. It is a modern-day version of the Greek myth of Orpheus, a poet and musician who almost rescues his wife from Hell by charming Pluto and Persephone with his lyre. In the movie’s story, a songwriter in Rio named Orfeu puts on extravagant, colorful presentations that often win awards at carnival time. He falls in love with a beautiful woman from the country who’s visiting the city. While Orfeu is performing and winning another award, the woman is accidentally shot dead by the local drug dealer, who dumps her body into the poorest neighborhood’s landfill, where discarded bodies and trash are left to rot. Crazy with grief, Orfeu retrieves her body and tries to bring her back to life with his songs, but his efforts result in further tragedy.
There are several interesting Christian elements in this colorfully photographed Brazilian movie. For example, at one point, Orfeu’s father, who’s a church-going Christian, warns his son that God will want an accounting of his life because He’s given Orfeu so much success. At another point, the father urges Orfeu to ask God for help. Despite this, ORFEU does not make full use of such Christian allusions in its story, nor of its shots of the famous statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks Rio and the poor neighborhood where Orfeu decides to stay. Thus, Orfeu remains essentially unaffected by his father’s religion, and the movie retains a romantic worldview in which society seems to blame for the tragedy that unfolds.
Also, there does not seem to be all that much chemistry between the movie’s two romantic leads. This is deadly when it comes time for them to have the conventional bedroom scene. Finally, this movie contains significant foul language and some sexual immorality and nudity, making it unsuitable for children.