I wanna tell y'all about Bolivar (Netflix/60 eps). TLDR: loved it, but telenovela qualities render it unwatchable to some. -- (edited)
Posted by
con_carne
May 15 '20, 13:04
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Started this series because I craved something in Spanish after Narcos and I thought I might as well watch a sprawling historical epic about the South American liberation. :-)
First the good:
With very few exceptions, all the actors are great IMO. I particularly liked "young man" Bolivar, who was played by actor/singer Jose Barreto. He got to play the biggest arc. This could have easily been stodgy, but a sense of fun and freedom is obvious in all the performances. It's like if Barry Lyndon moved quickly and had some funny shit happening in the background just because that's how life is. :-) Also, women and women's issues are given major screen time. The liberation of women today is tied to the liberation of the continent back then ad nauseam.
This series made me feel good, dammit! :-) Moved at a fast clip. Unafraid to throw the kitchen sink of human experience at you, from the horrific to the horny. The music is constant (like comically soap opera), but it's good, so I forgive that.
Once again, the period production design and costuming is great despite low production values. Plus a metric fuckton of location sets and natural lighting made this very easy to watch. The look is really quite impressive, IMO
This show hashes through so much history, social issues, philosophy, politics, leadership, gender and class inequalities, the meaning of justice, etc. It moves from one heavy issue to another with ease. And it all gets tied together in the closing arcs. Clearly, these are stories that have been told before many times, even though it's my first time in years. Toward the end, they dealt with being a dictator vs. being a tyrant (abdication vs. for life, etc.) and as a South American, that chilled me to the bone.
Now the bad:
It's repetitive and overlong. I benefited from that, since my Spanish is not so good. And the writing is good, in any case. It belabors a lot of points, but one side benefit is that it really hashes out many possible angles and points of view of the same issue, such as federalism and the other issues I already mentioned. It just tells you every side of every issue and then brings them to the conclusion of what ended up going down in history. So at least all that mess is rewarded.
I hear there are a lot of historical inaccuracies. I can forgive that EXCEPT Eps ~30-45 have a lot of gratuitous soap opera embellishments and added dramas. The sorts of dramas that Latin American old women would eat up, such as everybody fucking everybody, how to be a proper lady, who's baby is whose, etc. However, I like seeing the acknowledgment that women who lack power use gossip to control people (sound familiar??).
Low production values with obvious flaws. There are NO CHILDREN on the set, even though most characters have a family, and significant portions deal with education and religious life.
And since this is ST, I want to point out an actress to watch. Man, this was a tough decision, but Shany Nadan edges out Rosmery Marval (who is just plain beautiful IMO). I think she won an Ecuadorian citizenship award for her portrayal of Manuelita Saenz.
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