“Black Orpheus” (1959) is a romantic tragedy set in Brazil in the 1950s, based on a play inspired by the ancient Greek legend of Orpheus, “Orfeu da Conceição,” by Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim. The story is about a girl named Eurydice (played by Marpessa Dawn), who has been chased out of the countryside by a stalker and is forced to run away to her cousin, Serafina, who lives in Rio de Janeiro, during the busiest time of year, Carnaval. While in Rio de Janeiro, Eurydice meets a man named Orfeu (played by Breno Mello). Orfeu and Eurydice immediately fall in love, despite his recent engagement to another girl, Mira, and are forced to conceal their relationship.

Despite the film taking place in a favela, or poverty-stricken neighborhood, the characters are filled with explosive joy, a result of the movie’s romanticization of tragedy. This idea, that on the brink of despair, one can always find jubilance, is best displayed through the character Orfeu, who uses the little money he has to buy something he loves: a guitar. The heartbreaking story uses Brazilian bossa nova, also known as samba-jazz, to enchantingly weave a tale of love and loss. Throughout the film, Orfeu makes the sun rise and children smile by strumming his guitar and singing his new song, “Manhã de Carnaval” (by Jobim and Luiz Bonfá). Even when tragedy strikes upon the two star-struck lovers, his song plays and the lyrics “manhã tão bonita manhã, de um dia feliz que chegou” (“morning so beautiful morning, of a happy day which has arrived”) lets the sun rise once more, an eternal metaphor that in one’s sorrow lies another’s joy.

Though some may say the film slightly idealizes a life of poverty, beneath it lies the touching message that despite hardship, one can find contentment. The director, Marcel Camus, and his contributors — de Moraes, Jobim, and Bonfá — do a wonderful job at weaving together the animated traditions of Carnaval, the Brazilian Candomblé religion, and one of Ancient Greece’s most depressing tales in a movie that is sure to make you laugh, and maybe even shed a tear.