Where The River Runs Black

1986, Movie, PG, 100 mins

starstarstarstar
Another addition to the rash of "noble savage" films, WHERE THE RIVER RUNS BLACK is a well-intentioned but hopelessly cliched drama set in the jungles of Brazil. Father Mahoney (Peter Horton), an idealistic young priest at a jungle mission, paddles up the Rio Negro, where he is amazed to see a beautiful young native woman (Divana Brandao) swimming with a group of dolphins. After being seduced by the woman, the vulnerable priest is killed on his way back to his mission. However, their brief tryst produces a baby, which she raises with the friendly dolphins as protectors. Ten years later, Father O'Reilly (Charles Durning) visits the mission and learns of the mystical dolphin woman and her son (Alessandro Rabelo). But gold has been discovered in the area and with it come the exploiters of the land, led by Orlando Santos (Castulo Guerra). Basically a children's film, WHERE THE RIVER RUNS BLACK suffers from the kind of plotting where reason, reality, and detail are dismissed in favor of simplicity. Director Christopher Cain's build-up is so slow that it gives the audience too much time to ponder over the sizable plot holes. There is really nothing very bad or inept in WHERE THE RIVER RUNS BLACK, but there simply isn't anything fresh or particularly interesting either. leave a comment
Are You Watching?
Where The River Runs Black
Loading ...
Advertisement

Advertisement