Parts of the movie work very well-the beautiful scenery, the interesting characters and how they intrigue among each other, the depiction of Carnival, and the message that the government's power in a poor country like Brazil is at best limited. Other parts don't; the major characters are named after those in the Greek Orpheus myth, but the story fails to really follow the myth. For one thing, in the myth, Orpheus uses his music to soothe all the various creatures he encounters on his way through Hades to reach his wife Eurydice there; in this movie, Orfeu's guitar is used to entertain people, and its only (supposed) power is to make the sun rise. And to try to reach Eurydice, Orfeu is brought to attends a voodoo-type ceremony where she talks through a woman supposedly gifted with a spirit.
The movie has other loose ends as well. We never find out who the masked mystery man presumably stalking Eurydice is or what was his motivation in doing so. Orfeu and Mira get engaged at the beginning of the story, but Orfeu never seems to have ever been in love with her to begin with, and everyone tries to hide Orfeu's affair with Eurydice rather than Orfeu simply breaking off the engagement.
Not a bad movie, but hardly a classic.
The movie has other loose ends as well. We never find out who the masked mystery man presumably stalking Eurydice is or what was his motivation in doing so. Orfeu and Mira get engaged at the beginning of the story, but Orfeu never seems to have ever been in love with her to begin with, and everyone tries to hide Orfeu's affair with Eurydice rather than Orfeu simply breaking off the engagement.
Not a bad movie, but hardly a classic.