1- The stupid love triangle between Tony, Haydée and Raissa. It doesn't give rise to emotions. If Haydée always loved Tony why did she married Glauco? The poor Cinderella wanted a good and stable life with the rich Glauco and so she leaved Tony for this reason... now what she wants? She leaves her husband, that even if he is and idiot traitor, after all he loves her, and she says that she always be in love with Tony. Absurd! This guy reappears suddenly after 20 years and she finds the courage to leave her husband without thinking so much, like this was the most natural thing to do! Besides Tony is so sticky! 2- The love story between Sol and Tiao is not romantic at all! Sol is an ignorant and after 4 months that she lives in Miami she still doesn't speak a word of English. It is really ridiculous the way she speaks English! How can she take the orders from the customers in the bar in which she works if she doesn't speak a decent English? And Tiao with that cowboy accent is really very wearisome! Besides he is a Don Juan that wants every woman he sees: first Gil, then Creusa, then Simone. He does not have a personality, he is a male chauvinist who would like to see his woman just making kids and cleaning the house. He does not want to make any kind of sacrifice for his love for Sol. 3- The characters that live in the boardinghouse of Consuelo are all unbearable. Consuelo is a pompous and out of date matron who never speaks Spanish. Mercedes is an idiot pathetic and ridiculous. And about Inesita, I still do not understand how it is possible for her attending the American school if she entered as a clandestine in the US. Helò jokes too much making the victim and Neto is a total idiot. And they have a son, Rique, who is really unbearable! 4- All the other American characters are not convincing for many reasons. It seems that all the Americans are cold, without feelings, strict, full of prejudices. The American teachers do not allow children to kiss each other in the classroom. All the Americans are shocked seeing the Latin children not leaving the house of their parents at 18. They only say these words in English: thank you, sorry, bye bye, and honey. Now, I can understand that the Brazilian characters must speak in Portuguese, because the story will be full of subtitles if they always speak English talking with the American characters, and the Brazilian people would not understand anything viewing the program. But maybe the author could have gave a bit of realism making the American characters talking together in English. But this never happen. Ed meets for the first time Sol and immediately he speaks Portuguese with her; the American schoolmate of Inesita speaks Portuguese with her; the American boyfriend of Inesita speaks Portuguese with Consuelo (that, remember, is a Mexican who speaks always Portuguese and not Spanish because her grandmother was Brazilian. Absurd!). 4- Ed is an idiot! He is a nonentity, he falls in love with Sol after seeing her coming out from a cardboard box. Ridiculous! And he defines himself as a cultured intellectual! 5- Jatobà has become a sort of an always optimist joker, and it gets nerves. He is the super blind man who can do anything he wants. He should put in a suit like the one of Superman with written on Super Jatobà. 6- The character of Creusa was created just to show the beautiful body of Juliana Paes. It's irritating the way she seduces man and rejects them. 7- Nina is unbearable. She always makes the victim in her relationship with Glauco and she always believes him, even if she knows that he is a liar. 8- Diva is unbearable with all this gossiping and the false faints. Irene is boring always talking of rich men and nothing more. This tale of Haydée's kleptomania is absurd. Even if she is good now she continues stealing everything that catches her attention and the author does not show on the screen a cure for her problem. Sol and Ju are clandestine immigrants, they don't have money at all, they work like two slaves night and day to send their money to their families in Brazil, but they dress in the latest fashion, always with their navel out and stiletto heels, they use wonderful make-up, and they live in a beautiful little flat!Geninho is an unbearable selfish man, Lurdinha is a stupid teenager who is very irritant when she said to Glauco "oi t i o" ("hello uncle"). Neuta is boring with the tale of her son Junior who must be like his father in everything, and she is a really idiot because she finds out that Ellis is pregnant after 5 months of pregnancy! Even the blind Jatobà will find out before her that the girl was pregnant. 9- There are too many polemic and supernatural features that make a confused melting pot in the story. These candles that light up alone, Tiao's dreams, the apparition of the ox Bandido, all without a reason and without a logic sense. The only good things of this program are Sol's family that is true and nice; the comic characters of Graça and Gomes that are really funny; Vera, who is the unique normal person in that lawyer office; and Alex because Thiago Lacerda is very good in the role and he is the unique fascinating and charismatic character. This was a real disappointment after the beautiful "O clone", who was written by the same author. Please do not watch it! Don't lose your time.
3 Reviews
Mediocre and a shame for Brazil.
filipemanuelneto9 December 2017
For those who enjoy a soap opera, Brazil is fertile ground, as the overwhelming majority of general TV channels in the country transmit, on average, four soap operas daily. Invariably, much of this material eventually goes around the world, being bought and broadcast in other countries. One of the most permeable markets for Brazilian teledramaturgy is, of course, my country, due to its cultural and linguistic proximity. I watched "América" only once, when it debuted in Portugal, around 2005.
I confess it was one of the worst soap operas I've ever seen. It was so bad that it was worse than several domestic counterparts. The plot is absurd and revolves around the attempts of a Brazilian girl to travel to the US without any documentation, as an illegal immigrant. I already know Brazil well enough to know the inexplicable fascination that most Brazilians have for everything that is American, but to make a soap opera where Brazil is vexed and humiliated in this way was a sad thing, even though this is a point to which I am totally immune, insofar as I am Portuguese, so I am not a Brazilian citizen to feel offended in my patriotism. Even so, I think the Brazilians, in this soap opera, have turned their country into a sort of second-rate nation, glorifying the US in a deeply idiotic way. I am the first to say, even being a foreigner, that Brazil owes nothing to the United States, even though it is a country with immense economic, social and political problems. These are problems with solution if there is a serious investment in the subject. I am not in favor of an exacerbated and blind patriotism, where our country is good at everything and there are no problems. Do not get me wrong! I am in favor of a patriotism where our love for our country is channeled to try to make it better. This is something that is lacking for the Brazilians (and also for many Portuguese).
Another problem with this soap opera is the woody way the actors played. Deborah Secco is beautiful, but she was still trying to become a serious actress and not just a pair of boobs to attract male viewers, so she still didn't have the talent to be protagonist. At this point, I think her choice was a casting mistake. Murilo Benicio was well enough and Christiane Torloni too, although she may have had little good material to work with. Edson Celulari was just like himself, and that is bad for an actor in that it makes his character totally unlikely.
I confess it was one of the worst soap operas I've ever seen. It was so bad that it was worse than several domestic counterparts. The plot is absurd and revolves around the attempts of a Brazilian girl to travel to the US without any documentation, as an illegal immigrant. I already know Brazil well enough to know the inexplicable fascination that most Brazilians have for everything that is American, but to make a soap opera where Brazil is vexed and humiliated in this way was a sad thing, even though this is a point to which I am totally immune, insofar as I am Portuguese, so I am not a Brazilian citizen to feel offended in my patriotism. Even so, I think the Brazilians, in this soap opera, have turned their country into a sort of second-rate nation, glorifying the US in a deeply idiotic way. I am the first to say, even being a foreigner, that Brazil owes nothing to the United States, even though it is a country with immense economic, social and political problems. These are problems with solution if there is a serious investment in the subject. I am not in favor of an exacerbated and blind patriotism, where our country is good at everything and there are no problems. Do not get me wrong! I am in favor of a patriotism where our love for our country is channeled to try to make it better. This is something that is lacking for the Brazilians (and also for many Portuguese).
Another problem with this soap opera is the woody way the actors played. Deborah Secco is beautiful, but she was still trying to become a serious actress and not just a pair of boobs to attract male viewers, so she still didn't have the talent to be protagonist. At this point, I think her choice was a casting mistake. Murilo Benicio was well enough and Christiane Torloni too, although she may have had little good material to work with. Edson Celulari was just like himself, and that is bad for an actor in that it makes his character totally unlikely.
A big disappointment
polarisns21 August 2005
One of the things I have enjoyed in Summer visits to Brazil is the featured soap opera. It usually makes for a focus of issues to discuss with people throughout Brazil as a sort of cultural link. This particular soap opera was barely tolerable. Characters are over-dramatic in almost ballet or silent film body gestures and the script is predictable, awash in stereotypes and exaggerated sob stories about general causes.
Screen movements are not realistic, they are more like classic theater. Camera shots fall short of their intent as artistic framing and often are overdone to the point of provoking laughter.
The concept of the cultural interchange between the US and Brazil could have been very interesting and insightful. This program makes it easy to be doing something else. It is a sad contrast to the likes of Mulheres Apaixonadas, Esperança or A Muralha.
Screen movements are not realistic, they are more like classic theater. Camera shots fall short of their intent as artistic framing and often are overdone to the point of provoking laughter.
The concept of the cultural interchange between the US and Brazil could have been very interesting and insightful. This program makes it easy to be doing something else. It is a sad contrast to the likes of Mulheres Apaixonadas, Esperança or A Muralha.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
