Where the River Runs Black

Plot synopsis:
Father Mahoney (Peter Horton) is a missionary priest in the Amazon, and on occasion reports to his superior, Father O'Reilly (Charles Durning), who disapproves of his plans to save the indigenous people of the area through medicine and development. He is instead encouraged to focus on saving souls. After a final and disappointing meeting with Father O'Reilly, Father Mahoney ventures by canoe into the black waters of the Amazon only to encounter an Indian woman (Divana Brandão) living in the jungle, the same one he has seen before and who he claims continues to tempt him. Known through local folklore as a seductive spirit who can change into a river dolphin, Father Mahoney is overcome by his desire during this particular encounter and is intimate with the woman. Before leaving, he gives to her the crucifix from around his neck. On his return to the missionary that same day, Father Mahoney's boat capsizes and he is killed by an anaconda, never knowing the woman he left behind is now with child. The woman raises her son alone in the jungle where he grows up in an idyllic existence, swimming with the river dolphins. One day, the mother is discovered by a band of hunters using a motorized boat, and during a struggle she is killed. Led by Orlando Santos (Cástulo Guerra), the group of men and their murderous act are witnessed by the child in the forest. They grab the boy and toss him into the river. No longer seeing the boy, they assume he has drowned and depart. Moments mater, the river dolphins come to his rescue and take him to shore. At age six, he is left to fend for himself in the forest.
Over the years a story of a feral child spreads through the towns along the river, and when the boy is ten he is captured and taken to town. The capture of the "dolphin boy" comes to the attention of Father O'Reilly. When he sees that the boy is wearing Mahoney's crucifix he realizes that he is Mahoney's child. With great excitement that part of Mahoney has lived in, O'Reilly takes in and baptizes the boy, who does not speak or understand language. O'Reilly names him Lazaro and places him in an orphanage run by nuns. There the boy learns to speak and is befriended by an older boy called Segundo (Ajay Naidu). Father O'Reilly continues to visit Lazaro, usually taking him out for ice cream and teaching him Christian values, such as the concept of forgiveness, particularly toward the men that killed his mother.
The orphans are presented to a benefactor of the orphanage, a successful businessman who is also a candidate for governor of the province. Lazaro recognizes the benefactor as Orlando Santos, the man who killed his mother. Lazaro runs away from the orphanage, intent on finding Santos and killing him. Segundo insists on going with him. Father O'Reilly learns that Lazaro has run away and begins to search for him. Lazaro and Segundo survive by shining shoes on the streets while they search for Santos. They narrowly elude Father O'Reilly at an ice cream stand he had previously frequented with Lazaro. They follow a campaign vehicle to Santos's house, where a political fundraiser is underway. Santos is giving a speech to his guests when Lazaro impulsively takes a sharpened stake from the garden and uses it as a spear, hurling it at Santos's head in front of all of his guests. It narrowly misses. Lazaro makes his escape, but Segundo is caught by Santos's security people. Santos questions Segundo, and comes to realize that Lazaro is the boy from the jungle and can link him to his long-ago crime.
Santos sends Segundo to a quarry he owns to serve as an indentured laborer - and as a lure for Lazaro. Sure enough, Lazaro turns up at the quarry and helps Segundo to escape. Together they head into the jungle, intending to return to Lazaro's childhood home by the river. Santos tracks them through the jungle. Meanwhile, Father O'Reilly travels up the Amazon by boat, acting on a hunch that Lazaro might return to his forest home. Lazaro reaches the banks of the river and is reunited with his childhood environment and the wild river dolphins. While walking with Segundo on a forest trail leading to his old home, Santos catches up with him, grabbing him from behind, carrying him into the river where he tries to drown him. But Lazaro is saved when the river dolphins he grew up with attack Santos, butting him with their snouts and causing him to drown. Father O'Reilly arrives on the scene and is highly conflicted as he feels he should save the drowning man in front of him whose hand is now reaching out for help, but chooses to do nothing knowing he just tried to kill Lazaro. Santos slowly drowns from his injuries. Father O'Reilly is reunited with Lazaro, but ultimately leaves him in the forest from where he came. It is not known what becomes of Segundo, but the assumption is that he returns to the city and leaves his friend in the forest. Now legendary among the people of the community, Lazaro is said to be seen at times still living in the jungle and playing with the river dolphins - while also thought to be able to turn into one himself.
The movie begins and ends through the narration of Father O'Reilly, while at confession and seeking his own forgiveness for letting a man die when he could have saved him.

Tags: revenge

Review:
A fascinating film.
This is a very touching film, which has always fascinated me as I do have an interest in feral children.
The film, based on David Kendall's novel 'Lazaro', revolves around young Lazaro, a child raised deep in the Amazonian jungle by his mother following the death of his priest father before he was born.
Mother and son live a happy, idyllic life until gold-hunters enter their territory and end up murdering Lazaro's mother.
Left to fend for himself, he is then taken in by the dolphins who live in the river and protect their human charge from predators as they would their own calves.
Some years later, when Lazaro is about ten or so, he is then found and brought to the city where his father's mentor vows to care for him and make him civilised.
But Lazaro is more intent in revenge when he sees the man who killed his mother...The acting from Alessandro Rabelo, who plays Lazaro, and Ajay Naidu, who was cast in the role of Lazaro's best friend, was excellent.
You can't help but grow attached to the boys and care for their plight.
Charles Durning also gave a masterful performance as the priest who just wanted to do right by Lazaro; he had such a rapport with young Rabelo, leaving the audience convinced of the growing bond between the two.
The haunting music only adds to the sense of mysticism and spirituality conjured up by the storyline of the film.'Where the River Runs Black' really is a one of a kind and I highly recommend it to anyone just looking for something that bit different.
It touches many issues, from the plight of rescuing feral children (is there a point where they should just be left alone?) to whether we have a right to seek vengeance when we are wronged to environmental issues (the cutting down of the rain forests).
It's a film that stays with you forever..
Mysteriously And Visually Stunning.
This movie, if I remember correctly, originally aired on HBO.
A friend of mine taped it for me and sent it  to me as a gift because he had an idea I would like it.Boy, was that an understatement.The movie reminded me of a Tarzan movie called "Tarzan  And The Jungle Boy", where they find a boy who crashed in the jingle and spent years there before he was found.The two brothers who play Lazaro, Alessandro Rabelo and Marcelo Rabelo, look so much alike that  it's no wonder they chose them to play the same character at different ages.
They both give a stunning performance as the adoreable jungle boy..
Mix of religion and mysticism.
"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.
Great MOVIE!!.
One of my all time favorite "Jungle" movies.I first heard about this movie when I was living down south and a friend of mine mentioned it to me.
A local TV station at that time, late 1980s, was trying to have it blocked for some reason.
I never did get to see it at that time.
A year later, a girlfriend of mine at the time told me about the movie and how much she loved it, so I told her what had happened in that little town down south.
She'd told me that was stupid the move was awesome and if I ever got the chance to see it.
Two years later, back in New York, I came across the movie for sale in a video store and snatched it up thinking I had to see what all this was about.I wasn't disappointed.However, for a short while after viewing the movie the fist time around, I did keep an eye out for large snakes hanging out in trees whenever I went hiking or cannoning.
. .Lazaro, after loosing his father--look out for big snakes--and later his mother, lives alone in the jungle for a short while.
The villagers down the river eventually come to call him the Dolphin Boy, because he's often seen swimming with dolphins and they even believe he can become one and swim away if in danger.
Later Lazaro is caught by fisherman and taken to a church and that's when the story takes a twisting turn that I found very interesting and thoughtful.
I did get a kick out of watching them try and give the Jungle Boy a hair cut or make him wear sneakers.
And there is one scene where Lazaro wants to share a snack he caught with his new friend that I found both funny and touching.For some reason this story touched something deep inside me and I've loved it ever since.
Visually it was very pleasing with lush jungles and the contrasting open mine pits looking like gaping wounds in the Garden of Eden.
The young actors (brothers) who play Lazaro are very convincing in their portrayal of a child of the rain forest, very well acted and believable, and as other's have pointed out, very stunning looking.It'd be great if they made more movies like this one .
But as someone has already mentioned, movies like this come along maybe once ever ten or so years..
Mysterious, adventurous and thought provoking..
I was fourteen years of age when I first saw this film.
For me, the experience was magical.
I didn't know what this film had that created an aura of mysteriousness and intrigue, but I remember seeing it again a few years later and looking everywhere to purchase a copy.The young boy, Lazarus, has an affinity with the dolphins of the Amazon jungle and it is wonderfully captured in the screenplay.
As young actors go, this boy is wonderful as Lazarus.
His expressions are true to life and the scenes where he is brought from the wild to adapt to civilisation are naturally brought out.
The scene where he is mischievous with his orphan friend under the water tap captures the magical experience of childhood.The scene where his father rows quietly along the river makes you feel as if you're in the boat with him.I think you need to watch this film two or three times to fully appreciate the story it is telling..
Beautiful and Enchanting.
I haven't seen this movie for years, but it has always "haunted" me, and I have never been able to forget it.
I have frequently looked for it on DVD, hoping to see it pop up in stores or on Amazon, but it is apparently only available online as used VHS.
I don't own it in any form, so I am wondering what the latest news is as to a future release on DVD.Since I was very young, I have been a fan of jungle movies.
Many of them have had shallow and silly plots, but this movie is about the human spirit's ability to survive.
It is a beautiful story, and is visually stunning.
It's right up there with "The Emerald Forest" which came out the same year..
This is a powerful story and a beautiful movie.
This is a powerful story and a beautiful movie.
Worth seeing if you can find it.
The photography and the images are stunning.
I saw the movie last on a Olympic cruise down the Amazon which made it even more magical.The movie tells the story of Lazaro, son of a priest and a beautiful woman who lived deep in the Amazon jungle.
When Lazaro's mother is killed the dolphins raise him and the local Indians begin to call him Dolphin Boy believing he is part human, part dolphin.
It is a powerful story of Lazaro's conflicts with society but it is also the conflict between nature and man or progress.
As others have commented it is the kind of movie that only comes along once every ten years.If you enjoy the movie you should look for the original book Lazaro by David Kendall.
The imagery in the book is so vivid in some ways it is better than the movie..
Searching for the DVD.
I first saw this film on the Arts and Entertainment channel (A&E) in the 1960s when i was teaching in Montserrat.
The next time it was screen i made sure my students saw it.
What a wonderful experience!
Since then, I periodically search Amazon.com in the hope that some company will have put it into DVD format.
If anyone knows where it is available on DVD please send me a message.
And those of you who haven't seen it, it's well worth your time.
The film centers around issues that are so much in focus these days.
We see the relationship between the Church and the indigenous people- the clash between both cultures.
There is also the very topical issue of the exploitation of the Amazon environment and the relationship between the boy and river.
The nature child learns that human civilization also has some lethal crocodiles.
The script is beautiful and all the performances are excellent..
A Beautifully Done Movie.
It was about a year or so after the release of this movie before I was able to see it.
It's amazing how the human spirit can survive, no matter where this body of our's lives.
The scenery was beautiful and the story line was wonderfully done.The two brothers that played "Lazaro" (Alessandro And Marcelo Rabelo) do a remarkable job playing "Lazaro" at two different ages.
I can see why they casting director chose both of them.
Remarkably, they favor each other very much..
Very good movie!.
It starts with a touch of awesome music and a priest making his way to give his confession to another priest.
The story is his confession.
He tells how he feels he has sinned against God, by allowing an event to take place.
Lazaro is a young boy, raised dolphins in the jungle, after his mother is raped and killed (before his very eyes), by wicked men!
The priest (Charles Durning) befriends Lazaro and tries to make the boy civilized.
But Lazaro is vengeful toward the men who killed his mother, and has the opportunity to strike back!.
Beautifully shot movie.
I have this movie taped from HBO since it was aired in 1987.
It is one of my favorite movies.
It is beautifully shot in the amazon, the sounds of the jungle add a lot to it also.
I really like the story line it has great characters.
You really do not see movies made like this except once in 10 years it seems..
The indians tell the legend of a boy who lives at the place where the water turns black..
This is the second and final collaboration between director Christopher Cain, cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchía, and composer James Horner.
Two years earlier, these three men collaborated on one of the best 1980s dramas, "The Stone Boy".
Although all the factors of that earlier film are present here, it's a very much different experience.
"Where the River Runs Black" is a somewhat hybrid action/adventure/fantasy film, with enough acting power in front of the camera to make it dramatically compelling.
Many fine performances appear throughout the story.
Alessandro Rabelo, as the main character Lazaro is engaging.
Charles Durning, Peter Horton, and Divana Brandão all give very committed performances.
Durning lends depth and credibility to each word he speaks.Visually, this film is extremely well realized, though the VHS release gives somewhat less evidence of that (it's yet to be put out on DVD).
Juan Ruiz Anchía creates many stunning sequences.
There is a slow motion scene of Lazaro running through the rain that took my breath away.
The visual sense of the film offers much to keep the viewer interested.
On top of that, the music of James Horner constantly brings back themes of longing and beauty.
It's a wonderful soundtrack.Overall, the story is a bit too disconnected to make this a truly great film.
The many changes in pace and focus make it feel like many different films at once, and not necessarily to its benefit.
For a children's film (though I hate to categorize something only as such), it is very good.
The constant changes is style should keep kids interested.
I certainly recommend "Where the River Runs Black", but it's not quite as believable is it should be, and not quite as balanced, even for a fantasy.
It's certainly worth watching once, maybe twice.
But wait for the DVD if you really want to see it as it was meant to be seen..
Beautiful movie.
I had this movie on tape.
I absolutely love it.
I do have to say, if you're looking for a fast moving slam bang story, this is not for you.
If you want a story that draws you in and leaves satisfied in the end check it out, if you can find it.
It's a great piece of story telling..
Be patient....
I remember back when I was in sixth grade, we watched "Where the River Runs Black".
For about the first half hour to forty-five minutes, you sort of sit there thinking that it's one of those movies that exists only to tug at your emotions.
But after that, it turns out to be quite good.
It focuses on Lazaro (Alessandro Rabelo), a boy born in the Amazon jungle to an Indian woman and an American missionary who gets killed by a snake.
After his mother gets murdered by some thugs, Lazaro gets brought to the city and raised in a church.
But then he comes across the man who murdered his mother, and he's ready for revenge.
Narrating the movie is Charles Durning as a priest; I'd say that he was born to play the role.Like I said, you have to be patient with this movie.
It drags at times, but mostly does a good job.
Other cast members include Ajay Naidu (one of the guys in "Office Space"), Peter Horton and Dana Delany..
Justice.
This film could be taken as a powerful treatise on the Catholic Church's idea of morality, or on the cultural contrasts and difficulties faced by a large emerging south American economy.
I think it is both.
It comments on the economics of Church-aided development, on the treatment of orphaned children in South America, and on the corruption in politics in parts of South America.
The continent's poorest are shown as being seen by the richest as disposable, but it also shows a glimmer of hope.
The acting is first rate, which you would expect from a cast that includes Conchata Ferrell and Charles Durning, the photography is beautiful, and the film has a sense of natural justice.