Doña Bárbara
Format	Telenovela
Created by	Rómulo Gallegos
Developed by	Telemundo Studios RTI Colombia Sony Pictures Entertainment
Starring	Edith Gonzalez Christian Meier Génesis Rodríguez
Country of origin	Colombia  United States
Language(s)	Spanish
No. of episodes	190
Production
Executive producer(s)	Aurelio Valcarcel Carrol Brendan Fitzgerald
Location(s)	Los Llanos, Colombia
Running time	42 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Telemundo
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
Original airing	United States August 4, 2008 - May 21, 2009  Georgia March, 2009 - October 30, 2009

Doña Bárbara (Madame Barbara) is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo, Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) and RTI Colombia. Edith Gonzalez and Christian Meier star in this adaptation of the 1929 novel by Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos.

[edit] Story

Set in the plains of Los Llanos, this melodrama features a courageous, beautiful and strong-willed woman who must rise above heartbreak, betrayal and tragedy. Her troubled past haunts her, as she confronts her own deep-seated vulnerabilities in the face of an impossible love. She falls passionately for a dashing man and must face her memories head-on. She must fight to keep her secrets from destroying her chance of happiness, fulfillment and true love.^[1] "The best stories feature strong women," says the show's English trailer. "This is the story that started it all.^[2]

[edit] Plot

Bárbara is an attractive woman raised mostly on the rivers of Venezuela, by her riverboat captain father. Her mother was an Indian woman, now deceased. She was madly in love with young Asdrúbal until tragedy smashed everything. Some of the men who worked for her father steal their boat and kill her father. The bandits then rape her and shoot her boyfriend. This causes her to hate men, but at the same time sleep with them to get what she wants. She becomes involved with Lorenzo Barquero, the owner of a cattle ranch, with whom she becomes pregnant and has a daughter named Marisela. Barbara later steals Lorenzo's home and fortune and kicks both him and their daughter out, leaving them to fend for themselves with absolutely nothing.

Santos is the only remaining son of the Luzardo family, who had a feud with the Barqueros. He returns to his hacienda, Altamira, planning to sell it. Undeterred, Santos sets out to save his cousin Lorenzo and to educate young Marisela. Bárbara and Santos fall in love . Later, he realizes he loves Marisela. After Santos leaves her the ravens that Juan Primito gave food to in el Miedo suddenly die. This is because Santos' relationship would slowly begin to change her. Then, Bárbara finds out that she is pregnant. Because of her mother's pregnancy, Marisela breaks it off with Santos. "El Sapo" (Bárbara's last enemy) has come back to destroy her. Marisela has become engaged to Gonzalo who was an insurgent rebel against a repressive Government and a friend of Santos. But power corrupts Gonzalo and he's jealous of Marisela's feelings for Santos. Santos finds out about the engagement when he goes to San Fernando to confirm it. Barbara's hacienda was attacked by El Sapo; and, in the struggle to defend her home, she lost the baby. She tries to pretend to still be pregnant to get Santos back, but he found out by tricking her into taking a blood test. He then kicks Barbara out of his house. When Marisela goes back, Altagracia tells her that Santos knows that Barbara lost the baby. Marisela had known she'd lost the baby but was keeping quiet because she thought her mother's mental health was fragile. Santos is upset Marisela didn't tell him about this and he tells Marisela to leave and never come back because she has lied to him. Marisela has decided to stay with Gonzalo in order to spy on him after finding out that he and "El Sapo" are allies in drug trafficking. Meanwhile Santos has realized his mistake and now wants Marisela back. Now, the fear caused by "El Sapo" is bringing Barbara and Marisela back together once more to destroy "El Sapo" once and for all. Once El Sapo is killed, Barbara tries to kill herself for all the bad things she has done. As Barbara is about to drown herself, Marisela comes in to save her. In the attept, Marisela almost drowns. Barbara saves Marisela and decides not to kill herself. Instead, she tells Marisela that she is going very far away. When Barbara leaves, she almost dies. Luckily, there were children there to help her. Their mother comes and takes in Barbara as a family. Many years later, Marisela is seen with two grown children and one not yet born. Then, all the children of everyone is shown as a video tape. Meanwhile, Barbara is very sick, dying every day. She claims to "speak" to Marisela everyday and knows about the children she has. After, Barbara soon dies. Marisela feels that she doesn't sense Barbara talking to her anymore. Marisela also sees how the girl she barely had looks just like Barbara. The story end with Barbara as a ghost with Eustaquia and Melquiades on a boat, drifting away through the endless sea to God.

[edit] Cast

• Edith Gonzalez .... Bárbara Guaimarán
• Christian Meier .... Santos Luzardo Vergel
• Génesis Rodríguez .... Marisela Barquero Guaimarán
• Maritza Rodriguez .... Asunción Vergel de Luzardo
• Marcelo Cezan.... Florencio Reyes "Quitadolores"
• Andrés Ogilvie-Browne .... Juan Primito
• Jencarlos Canela .... Asdrúbal - Barbara's boyfriend from her youth
• Katie Barberi .... Cecilia Vergel
• Arap Bethke .... Antonio Sandoval
• Paulo Quevedo .... Balbino Paiba
• Roberto Mateos .... Lorenzo Barquero
• Raul Gutiérrez .... Coronel Pernalete
• Lucy Martínez .... Eustaquia
• Ivan Rodríguez .... Melecio Sandoval
• Martha Isabel Bolaños.... Josefa
• Alberto Valdiri ...Mujiqiuita
• Juan Pablo Shuk .... Gonzalo
• Amparo Moreno....Casilda
• Daniela Tapia .... Gervasia
• Lucho Velasco.... Melquiades el Brujeador
• Mimi Morales....Altagracia
• Alejandra Sandoval .... Genoveva
• Pedro Rendón... Carmelito
• Gary Forero... León Mondragón
• Roberto Manrique ....Maria Nieves
• Andrés Ogilvie Browne....Juan Primito
• Paula Barreto ... Luisana Requena
• Bibiana Corrales ... Melezia
• Adriana Silva ... Josefina
• Jimmie Bernal .... William Danger
• Andrés Martínez... Tigre Mondragón
• Tiberio Cruz... Pajarote
• Esmeralda Pinzón ... Federica Pernalete
• Gabriel González... Doctor Arias
• Guillermo Villa... Padre Pernia
• Oscar Salazar... Mauris Requena
• Felipe Calero
• Naren Daryanani ... Onza Mondragón
• Herbert King
• Humberto Arango
• Hernan Méndez
• Hermes Camelo ... El Chepo
• [Julio Pachón]
• Jaime Correa
• Alejandro Muñoz
• David Noreña
• Enrique Poveda
• Nicolás Votteler
• Nicolás Niño
• Edgar Durane
• Errssell Marca
• Xilone Esperanza ... guest appearance
• Ulises Luna ... guest appearance

[edit] Production

Doña Bárbara is shot in Colombia and Aurelio Valcarcel is executive producer. SPTI will distribute Bárbara in North and South America, while Telemundo International will handle distribution throughout Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia and Asia.^[3]

This is the third telenovela based on Rómulo Gallegos' heroine. Previous versions appeared in Venezuela in 1964 and in Peru in 1975. Universal Pictures, now part of the corporate family that includes Telemundo, co-produced a film version in 1998.^[4]

As with most of its soap operas, the network broadcast English subtitles as closed captions on CC3 until late October, when the network canceled the translations. This show was the first to regain the subtitles when captions were restored in late March, 2009.

[edit] External links

• Official Doña Barbara Website (Spanish)

[edit] References

1. ^ NBC Universal, Media Village, Telemundo Presenta Nueva Oferta de Programación Original para la Temporada 2007-2008. May 15, 2007.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ NBC Universal. Preview Video published January 25, 2008.
4. ^ Variety.com, SPTI reteams with Telemundo. By Anna Marie de la Fuente. January 25, 2008