Carmen: A Hip Hopera

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Carmen: A Hip Hopera is an MTV production from 2001 starring Beyoncé Knowles, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Mekhi Phifer, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow, directed by Robert Townsend. It is based on Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen, but set in Philadelphia and Los Angeles in modern times.

The movie received mainly negative reviews. To date, it is the second major attempt at an African-American adaptation of the opera (the first being Carmen Jones).

[edit] Plot

Beyoncé plays Carmen Brown, a seductive, aspiring actress who causes trouble everywhere she goes. She gets involved with Phifer's character, Derek Hill, who is engaged to the cocktail waitress, Caela. At Lou's Bar, Carmen gets into a fight with a jealous woman. The crooked Lieutenant Miller, played by Mos Def, orders Hill to bring Carmen to jail. Carmen tries unsuccessfully to seduce Hill, but she convinces him to let her stop at her apartment to change clothes. There, she puts on lingerie and wins him over. He is caught in the morning by Lieutenant Miller, who brings Caela with him as he arrests Hill. She slaps him and tells him she hates him.

While in jail, Hill cannot stop thinking about Carmen. She writes him a letter, and he shares his obsession with cellmates Lil' Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri. While Hill is in jail, Carmen meets the famous rapper Blaze at a nightclub, The Spot. He wants to bring her to Los Angeles, but succeeds only in bringing her best friends. Carmen promises to meet them in LA once Hill is out of jail. Unfortunately, Hill is facing a year of probation once he gets out. However, after he punches the lieutenant in the face during an argument at the bar, he and Carmen flee Los Angeles.

Things in Los Angeles don't go well. Carmen can't find an acting job, and Hill's fugitive status prevents him from obtaining employment. She runs into her friends, Rasheeda and Nikki, who are being treated like royalty by Blaze. The three of them have their tarot cards read by Wyclef Jean. Rasheeda and Nikki receive favorable fortunes, but Carmen's cards read "ruin," "sorrow" and "death." She decides that it's time for a change. She goes to Blaze's rehearsal and wins an invitation to be his date to his next concert.

Shortly afterwards, Carmen breaks up with Hill and moves in with her friends in a house apparently owned by Blaze. Much like his counterpart in the original opera, Hill is devastated. He also learns from Caela, who hates him but still loves him, that he is in danger. Since Hill knows how crooked he is, Miller wants to get rid of him. The movie ends at Blaze's concert, where Carmen and the lieutenant are both killed.