Very few people from English speaking countries will have the chance to see this masterpiece of television production. Brazilian television has long time ago, found the way to dignify the soap opera production to the extent that almost anyone can enjoy viewing them, thanks to its excellence from both the technical and the intellectual points of view.
Vale Tudo is one landmark of such trend. The struggle to survive of Raquel (played Regina Duarte in such a wonderful way that you can't help but to fall in love with her) and her lover Ivan (Antonio Fagundes), a middle class moral sound couple in Sao Paulo at the late 80's, deeply sunk in a moral and economic crisis, is enhanced by rich and beautiful dialogue and great image for video. Their worst enemy, besides the lack of money, is Maria de Fatima, Raquel's daughter, brilliantly played by Gloria Pires, a reckless teenager decided to do whatever it takes to be rich, which is what she equals to success. As you can see this is nothing but the archetypical latin soap plot. It is the actors, the script and the meticulous production what makes Vale Tudo such a great work.
Some characters mentioning Odette Roittman (Beatriz Segal) is one of the most classy villians ever, her sister Celina (Nathalia Timberg)the perfect alter ego to Odette, Helininha (Renata Sorrah) and most of the rest of the cast made this series an unforgetable experience. Kudos to Rede O Globo and to the whole cast of Vale Tudo, so far Vale Tudo is the ultimate TV series.
