Customer Reviews

Where the River Runs Black [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

tale about inocence , fantasy, and fate.
the fate of a child who had the opportunity to come back to his origins, his birth place, to play with a dolphin.
the fate of a catholic priest who die for a sin .
the legend of a beautiful woman who lived where the river runs black...
I recomend this movie to anybody who likes to enjoy a good trailer together in family.

I first saw this film on VHS, had never heard of it before then. It is a truly magical family film, with excellent performances by the young Alessandro, and his younger brother Marcelo in the flashbacks, as Lazaro. The beauty of Lazaro's innocent life is rudely interupted by the intrusion of Church complicit societal rules of order. This orderliness, including child-prison scenes that remind one of the classic film PIXOTE, although not quite so brutal, are only escaped by a return to the myths of childhood and the mystery of nature. See it with your own youngsters, and talk about it after. Hopefully, Sony/Columbia will release it soon on DVD, it is visually stunning!

"Where the River Runs Black" (1986 - 97 minutes), directed by Christopher Cain, is a beautiful adaptation for the cinema of the awarded novel "Lazaro", of David Kendall. The film mix religion and mysticism when tells the history of a boy created in the Amazonian forest that is taken to be educated in an orphanage. The tram starts when an American missionary, the idealistic priest Mahoney (the actor Peter Horton) - that works in the region where the waters of the River Amazon becomes black -, knows a mysterious and sensual woman. A child is born of this relation and Mahoney dies. The boy, Lazarus, is played by a 10 years old Brazilian boy, Alessandro Rabelo who carried out the film side by side to the experienced actor Charles Durning (priest O'Reilly). Educated in the forest, Lazarus develops a strange relation with the "botos" (dolphins of the Amazon River). Of the wonderful landscapes of the Amazonian forest to the dirty and hard urban scenes, the story of magical realism maintain its attraction due to the delirious photograph of Juan-Ruiz Anchia. Entirely filmed in Brazil, the film had the participation of some Brazilian technicians and actors as Marcos Flaksman, Chico Diaz and Ariel Coelho

The Movie made on a Budget is one of the top 10 Foreign Movies of all time in my view. Great photography, wonderful acting, along with a great story line makes this long awaited DVD transfer worth watching. This is a great Buy! I waited a good ten years for this DVD to come out, and the wait was well worth it!

The reason I can't give this a better review is that I think the story
is at least partly a fabrication on the part of a priest.
Orphans are treated badly in many cultures:
the Jungle Book and Kim talk about orphans in India ; one of them a wild boy such as in this story. The true wild boys that I have read about
are almost never "treatable": they are feral and not teachable by the age
of this boy. Raised by dolphins is just a pretty way to make a legend
that will sell books and movies.
Not that I didn't like and enjoy the movie:
just that it didn't convince me.
The murder of his mother after being raped is probably the most believable part of the story.

I received this tape in "PERFECT" condition. I rec'd it within 2-3 days.
The movie itself is Awesome!
Hats off to the seller! :o)
Thank you.