Hit Colombian TV series breaks cocaine taboo
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN1747123320080918?pa...
By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombians do not like outsiders portraying their country as a cocaine nation, but that's not keeping many from watching a smash local soap opera about their multibillion-dollar narcotics trade.
Betrayal, murder and the lust for quick riches, while not the stuff of national pride, make for gripping television in "Cartel de los Sapos" (Cartel of the Snitches) about the powerful Norte del Valle drug smuggling organization.
Tracing how the cartel supplanted the once-mighty Medellin and Cali gangs, the series is the first to spotlight Colombia's drug lords, their surgically-enhanced girlfriends, violent lackeys and the dirty politicians and police who permit the world's biggest cocaine trade to flourish.
The No. 1-rated show is tinged with nostalgia for the early days of cocaine trafficking and the explosion of wealth it brought Colombians willing to use crime to escape the country's rigid class structure and dead-end economy.
"We identify with the story," said Diana Ramirez, 24, a waitress from Cali and fan of the show. "Sure it's ugly and violent, but it also has its charm."
The series puts the flamboyant characters of the 1980s and 1990s into historical context and shows how deeply the cartels have corrupted Colombian society, a taboo subject in the popular media until now.
The show accurately points out that many of the founders of the Norte del Valle cartel were former police officers.
Names are changed and the fun for many viewers is in identifying which characters are based on real-life criminals and their cronies, such as a top fashion model whose trafficker husband was famously chopped into pieces by a rival gang. Continued...
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By mariacvetanoski on Sep 18, 2008, 07:34 in Friendly Talkzone.
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Mononoke28 says on Sep 18, 2008, 10:01: Well it's definitely not the first but from what I understand it's pretty good. I remember back in the 80s when we still lived in Medellín there was a soap nobody ever missed called El Cacique Miranda, which was about a mafioso from Cartagena. I could barely watch it because it was on at 10 p.m. and could never stay awake but my parents always did. Then one night they were showing a scene where they were firing guns left and right and the scene moved on to something else but my parents still heard gunshots. Turns out some sicarios were chasing this guy who lived in our neighborhood ended up dead a block from our house. They turned off the TV and went to see him and stayed with him until he died. Diana 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 18, 2008, 10:11: Oh great. Yet another Colombian production about traquetos and putas. How original.
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Mononoke28 says on Sep 18, 2008, 10:30: With Manolo Cardona as the main guy. How original. Diana 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Simon says on Sep 18, 2008, 15:09: You said it, CG! "DON'T FOK WITH COLOMBIA!!"-----Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 18, 2008, 15:27: I have no problem with crime movies or TV shows, but it gets a bit old when it is all they focus on. This is especially true when one has grown up knowing all the great things about Locombia.
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jpseast says on Sep 18, 2008, 15:43: I live in Cali and know people of various social and economic levels...can't seem to get a conversation out of anyone while the show is on..not even my novia in person...I tell her the show is my competition ..LOL actually I'm starting to enjoy it
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Simon says on Sep 18, 2008, 15:50: Ok CG, so who was banging who at that office? "DON'T FOK WITH COLOMBIA!!"-----Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 18, 2008, 16:06: It wasn't so much who was banging who, but just all the silly ass crap that happened. It was all women that worked in the office and they always had some drama or another going on.
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dwmte7 says on Sep 18, 2008, 16:07: mononoke......you were in medallo in the 80's. do you remember the telenovela, 'la casa de los dos palmas?" it was a great novela. filmed in sante fe de antioquia and written by medellin's very own manuel mejia. dwmte 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Catfish35 says on Sep 18, 2008, 18:33: I just watched it last night. Anyone with any sense would not even watch that shat and think anything but a Ringling Brothers Production...Its aggravating at best... "So many guns, and so few brains". sam spade 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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august says on Sep 18, 2008, 20:27: As an action-soap, the series did go downhill in my opinion after the first week or so.
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Monpirri says on Sep 19, 2008, 05:20: EL CARTEL DE LOS SAPOS-Match.com The life spam of a taste bud is ten days 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Monpirri says on Sep 19, 2008, 05:22: Colombians cannot win a simple soccer game but they are certainly winners in TV productions. The life spam of a taste bud is ten days 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Rowdy Yates says on Sep 19, 2008, 13:11: Can I say maybe we are a bit hypocritical. We are offended when forigners identify Colombians/Colombia as narco central, etc. Yet the number one TV show in Colombia is just that? Huh?
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ColombianoGringo (Moderator) (Trustee board) says on Sep 19, 2008, 13:29: You're right Rowdy. It's hard to tell people that Colombia isn't just narcos and hookers when the biggest cultural export these days is Sin Senos(Tetas) No Hay Paraiso.
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Monpirri says on Sep 19, 2008, 16:37: Here are other great Colombian exports: The life spam of a taste bud is ten days 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Simon says on Sep 19, 2008, 18:51: You tell 'em Monpirri!! "DON'T FOK WITH COLOMBIA!!"-----Simon 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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Catfish35 says on Sep 21, 2008, 18:54: Hey...which one was like "Until death do us apart" or something like that???? anyone remember? "So many guns, and so few brains". sam spade 0 funny, 0 helpful. |
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