Where the River Runs Black (1986)

Director:

Christopher Cain

Writers:

Neal Jimenez (writer)
David Kendall (book)

Release Date:

19 September 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure

Plot:

An orphaned boy who was raised in the Amazon jungle is brought back to civilization by a priest who knows his father.

Plot Keywords:

Dolphin | Jungle | Escape | Based On Book

Cast

Charles Durning	...	Father O'Reilly
Alessandro Rabelo	...	Lazaro
Ajay Naidu	...	Segundo
Divana Brandão	...	Eagle Woman
Peter Horton	...	Father Mahoney
Castulo Guerra	...	Orlando Santos
Conchata Ferrell	...	Mother Marta
Dana Delany	...	Sister Ana
Chico Díaz	...	Raimundo (as Chico Diaz)
Marcelo Rabelo	...	Lazaro - 4 Years Old
Ariel Coelho	...	Francisco
Paulo Sergio Oliveira	...	Jose
Mario Borges	...	Brother Carlos
François Thijm	...	Luis
Geraldo Salles	...	Priest in Confessional

Runtime:

Canada:100 min | USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Digitrac Digital Audio System

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Brazil

Company:

CBS Entertainment Production

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.