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've been watching "Mulheres de Areia" in the reprise that is currently happening in Portugal.
The plot takes place in a fictional city on the Brazilian coast called Pontal de Areia and focuses on the rivalry between two twin sisters, sweet Ruth and the dangerous Raquel, who wants to marry his sister's fiancé, Marcos, in order to lay her hands on his fortune. The plot goes through several twists from there, and I still have not watched the end but I believe that, as is usual in soap operas, the villain will die and the good girl will marry the good guy. It's always like that. This seems to have been, in the past, the soap opera where Gloria Pires obtained her consecration, becoming one of the most respected actresses in the Brazilian television and dramatic scene. She is proving to be excellent at giving the two central characters of the plot to life, so equal and at the same time so different from each other. A true tour-de-force for this actress. I'm also enjoying the performances of Marcos Frota, Vivianne Pasmanter, Humberto Martins and Guilherme Fontes.
