Pantanal Summaries from Telenovela-World Apr. 11, 2000 - Aug. 4, 2000

Produccíón de Brasil 1990

USA (Telemundo Broadcast) Apr. 11, 2000 – Aug. 4, 200

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These summaries come from the Telenovela-World forum. You may share them, but you may not sell them or include them in anything you sell. In addition, you must give credit to all the sources, especially the authors, and to Telenovela-World (for the collection).

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Sources/fuentes: Telenovela-World (www.telenovela-world.com),

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantanal_%28soap_opera%29 )

Please send additions, changes, corrections to diane@telenovela-world.com/ Por favor, envia adiciónes, cambios o correcciónes a diane@telenovela-world.com.

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SYNOPSE

http://www.riopreto.com.br/araujo/novela/pantanal.htm

SINOPSE: A saga da família Leôncio, desde os anos 40, quando Joventino (Cláudio Marzo) chega ao Pantanal do Mato Grosso acompanhado de seu filho de 10 anos, o José Leôncio (Paulo Gorgulho / Cláudio Marzo). Este se estabelece na região e torna-se um dos principais criadores de gado, iniciando um clã de peões de boiadeiro. Antes, se envolve com Madeleine (Ingra Liberato / Ítala Nandi) , uma carioca mimada, que lhe dá o filho Jove ( Marcos Winter). Na atualidade, Jove se apaixona por Juma (Cristiana de Oliveira),uma jovem selvagem e sensual, enquanto seu pai, que foi abandonado por Madeleine, encontra carinho ao lado de Filó (Tânia Alves / Jussara Freire), uma ex-prostituta que José Leôncio protege ao levá-la para sua casa como empregada.

From the Wikipedia, as of Aug. 22, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantanal_%28soap_opera%29

Pantanal (soap opera)

Pantanal

A small sub-category of the telenovela genre is the ecological or environmental telenovela, whose purpose is to dramatize, and hence raise audience awareness of environmental degradation or deterioration. [1] One of the best known of these is Pantanal, which was produced by Brazil’s TV-Manchete and ran for 216 episodes in 1990.[2]

Pantanal brings to the screen a visually lush and enticing product in which traditional telenovela storylines and plot-devices are wed with cinematic audiovisual techniques that make the production look more like a movie than a television program. It is this visual appeal, coupled with the introduction of female frontal nudity to Brazilian prime-time television that allowed TV-Manchete to dominate the audience share in this prime-time slot for the first time, overcoming perpetual ratings leader TV-Globo. [3]

While the unusual storyline, special effects and erotic nature of the novela certainly attracts the attention of viewers, it is the location that truly makes this production stand out in the crowded telenovela line-up. Typically, the majority of telenovela productions are filmed indoors, in order to streamline production schedules and minimize costs. For example, TV-Globo’s scripts are habitually located in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,[4] allowing them (as is common practice throughout the industry) to use stock exterior footage of the city to complement the majority of the scenes, which are filmed in large, closed sound stages. Therefore, Pantanal, novel in its outdoor, rural setting, may be even more interesting to urban novela audiences because it introduces them to a part of their country few are familiar with – the Pantanal region of the southwestern Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul.

The Pantanal region, whose name derives from the Portuguese word “pântano” (meaning “swamp” or “marsh” ),[5] is a wetland, or alluvial plain, that covers parts of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. Eighty per cent of the wetland’s total area is in Brazil, where it occupies more than 140,000 km².[6] It is frequently referred to as one of the largest freshwater wetland ecosystems in the world.[7] As part of the Paraguay floodplain, it is a depository for seasonal floodwaters from the Paraguay River and its surrounding tributaries (such as the Sao Lourenço, Cuiaba, Taquari, Miranda, Negro and Aquidauana).[8] The region has been called “an ecological paradise” and “an unparalleled wildlife sanctuary of spectacular beauty”[9] and has been compared to the Amazon rainforest in its density and its variety of flora and fauna.[10] It is one of the most densely packed hydrological eco-systems in the world; home to thousands of bird, butterfly, insect, fish, plant, reptile, and mammal species. Anaconda and caiman, tapir and giant river otter, toucan and macaw, among others, all make their home in the Pantanal – as does the jaguar.[11] It is this mysterious and beautiful world that provides the setting for Pantanal; a world that is home to river spirits who communicate with the human inhabitants and Juma Marruá, a beautiful young jaguar-woman who falls in love with Jovenito, an urbanite who returns to his birthplace to reconnect with his father and his roots in the land.

Pantanal’s producer (Nilton Travesso), author (Benedito Ruy Barbosa) and directors (Jayme Monjardim), Marcelo Barreto, Carlos Magalhães, and Roberto Naar)[12] use cinematic special effects to create a fantastic world in which they use the metamorphoses of a beautiful young woman into a jaguar (and then back into a woman again) as a plot-device. They also take advantage of the exotic locale to introduce a storyline that includes nudity and a more explicitly erotic style than had been seen in the genre before this point. This turned the up-and-coming Rio de Janeiro-born actress Cristiana Oliveira, who portrays jaguar-woman Juma Marruá, into a nationally recognized figure practically overnight and made Pantanal the most talked about program in Brazil.[13]

While Pantanal can be categorized as an “erotic” telenovela or a “supernatural” telenovela, it is as an ecological telenovela that its message still resounds more than fifteen years after it was first aired. Evidence of this can be found on the IMDb message board for Pantanal, in which a viewer/writer recently wrote:

Agora mais que nunca é que deveria ser transmitida, e não só em português, deveria ser traduzida para outras linguas para que o mundo se aperceba da importancia da Amazonia e tentar ajudar a preservar um legado que não pertence só ao Brasil, mas sim ao mundo...[14] (Rough translation– Now, more than ever, it should be aired, and not only in Portuguese, it should be translated into other languages so that the world can appreciate the importance of the Amazon and try to help preserve a legacy that not only belongs to Brazil, but also to the rest of the world…) The telenovela may be an entertainment medium, but they are most-watched genre of television program in the world, with at least two billion viewers worlwide. [15] It has been proven many times over that they have the power to transmit positive sociocultural messages that can have an impact upon the specific issue introduced by the novela plot. [16] In recent years, the ecology of the Paraguay River and the entire Pantanal Region has been threatened by plans to dredge the river and develop it as a waterway for commercial shipping. Pantanal, the telenovela, may serve to illustrate what would be lost forever if that were to happen.

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SUMMARIES FROM TELENOVELA-WORLD

USA, 4/11-14/00. Opens with some very quick scenes of father and young son. Years pass. We meet the grown José Leoncio whose father disappeared two years before. At the same time he disappeared, another couple moved into the area: Maria and ? . She’s lost several children and refuses to have sex with her husband because she wants no more children. She tells him to find an india. Filo is her housekeeper. She has a son and love José Leoncio. José Leoncio goes to Rio Janeiro because he’s been cheated: the check he got in payment for some cattle bounced. He’s never been in a plane before or in a big city. He hires a taxi driver and has to have him explain what an elevator is. He threatens the businessman who cheated him and gets his money in cash which he keeps in the saddlebags he carries. He takes a tour of the city and ends up in a restaurant where he doesn’t even understand what a menu is for. Two couples at another table watch him and laugh but one of them, Madelaine, is attracted to him. She goes over to his table and they begin talking. José Leoncio pays the bill for the other table and he and Madelaine go walking with the taxi following. She faints. He takes her back to the hotel where they make love. She was a virgin. Her parents are worried. The next day he takes her home and talks to her father, tells him that he was taught to take responsibility for his actions, and asks permission to marry Madelaine. The father accepts when he determines that that is what Madelaine wants. They arrange for a quick wedding and for getting José Leoncio appropriate clothes, especially shoes. Irma, Madelaine’s sister, and he become friends. She is very attracted to him. He makes a fool of himself at the wedding reception and Madelaine goes upstairs, furious. She decides that she will stay in Rio when he goes back to the ranch. He can visit her. He is not prepared to do that nor are her parents prepared to allow her to. So she leaves with him. Her mother discovers that that José Leoncio gave her father money, supposedly to cover business losses but really to cover gambling losses. Her mother accuses her father of selling their daughter On the plane to Mata Grosa, Madelaine tells José Leoncio that she will not stay long. She finds a huge house, meets Filo and the others, tries to correct José Leonció’s language, and learns that there is much she does not know. At home, Irma tells Gustavo, Madelaine’s ex-novio, what happened, how Madelaine fell in love con el olor de la piel. Madelaines writes letters to her mother and sister telling how happy she is and that she is pregnant. She asks Filo why she isn’t nauseous yet, she wants the signs to become obvious so she can go home to have her baby. José Leoncio is thrilled when he discovers he is going to be a father but is away from the ranch when Madelaine goes into labor. Filo helps her with the birth. Meanwhile, ? has somehow managed to have sex with his wife who is also on the point of giving birth. Madelaine gives birth to a baby boy. Madelaine is angry because José Leoncio wasn’t with her. He takes his newborn son on a ride around his land to baptize him as Juventino. José Leoncio and his friends sit around a campfire and wonder what happened to his father. José Leoncio shows Madelaine her son’s birth certificate. She is furious; she didn’t want her son named Juventino, the name of a peón. Her mother reads her daughter’s letter to her husband; she sides with her daughter but he thinks the ride and name were. 3 months pass. María goes into labor and gives birth alone during a storm to a girl she names Juma. She puts her baby alone in a canoe and sends it out to the river, then hears it cry. She runs, then swims after her baby and reaches the canoe. Madelaine swears that her son will not be raised in the saddle like his father, not while she lives. Irma tells her mother that Madelaine included with her last letter a letter to Gustavo. She tells Gustavo that her husband owns her when he touches her but when he opens his mouth, she doubts her choice and feels alone. Gustavo and Irma talk about Madelaine; he says that she needs help. Hill asks why “Juma”; she says it came to her when she was running after the canoe. He says that perhaps she will bring them luck.

USA, 4/17-21/00. Gustavo arrives. Two men come to the country seeking Hill, Mariá’s husband, for the murder of somebody. María tells Hill she senses something strange. Madelaine tells Gustavo that she misses her friends and the city; Filo is her only company her. Madelaine tells Gustavo that she can’t take it anymore, she wants to return with her child to civilization. Filo overhears them and is afraid; she believes that José Leoncio would kill the two of them. Madelaine, her child and Gustavo leave. José Leoncio returns home and Filo tells him. One of the strangers arrives at Hill’s home; his partner has drowned (although he doesn’t know it). The stranger says he has come to collect for Ernesto and shoots Hill in the back. María gets her rifle and kills the stranger. Madelaine, her child and Gustavo arrive home safely. José Leoncio tells Filo he will take the time to do that he has to do. José Leoncio learns about Hill, the strangers, etc. José Leoncio tells Filo he needs time to think, to cool off; perhaps his son would be better raised by Madelaine; in any case, he must not do anything that would hurt him later. Madelaine asks her father’s protection. Her father consults a lawyer and tells his wife that Madelaine could be accused of abandoning her home. José Leoncio goes to the city and arrives at Madelaine’s house. He tells her father that it would be shameful to take her back but he wants his son. He hears his son crying, goes to his room, and takes him away. But he is stopped at the airport by the police and leaves his son with Madelaine. Back in the Pantanal, he offers his home to María Maruagua and Juma but she refuses his help. José Leoncio wonders if Filo’s child is his (they had sex once or twice) but she doesn’t answer. Filo’s father doesn’t know he has a grandson. José Leoncio asks Filo if she still wants him and she admits that she does. But when she goes to him, he asks her to put on Madelaine’s perfume. She refuses, changes her mind, and returns. But he rejects her; he knows that it isn’t right to use her to forget Madelaine. Gustavo and Madelaine talk; she doesn’t know if she still loves José Leoncio. Years pass. Irma has been writing regularly to José Leoncio about his son but he has never replied although he sends money monthly for his son. Madelaine and Gustavo have become lovers but she is uncomfortable with the situation. Madelaine’s father continues to lose money gambling. One day Madelaine tells her son that his father is dead. Irma and their father are shocked. One night, Filo puts on perfume and a negligee and goes into José Leoncio’s room. He asks her to take off the perfume and she does. They become lovers. She tells him that her child is his. María raises Juma alone. One day, Juma runs away and is brought back by an older man. María, looking for Juma, is bitten by a venomous snake and is found by the man who takes her back to her home and treats her. José Leoncio has two of his workers take charge of one of his ranches. He tells Filo that he plans to take her and their son to Saó Paulo. Irma comes to visit but doesn’t tell her family. She asks José Leoncio to make love to her by the river and he does; they spend the night together and Filo is jealous. But the next day, he says that it was crazy and they shouldn’t repeat it. She leaves and he realizes that he should have chosen her in the first place.

USA, 4/24-28/00. Madelaine wants to know where she was and Irma admits she not only went to see him but slept with him. When Madelaine gets angry, she says she was with a man in Sao Paolo and discovered that he was married with a child. She begs Madelaine to say nothing. 6 años despues. Madelaine’s mother tells her husband that she will no longer pay his gambling debts. He plays cards Juvo and for the only time in his life got a royal straight. His grandfather talks about deceit, says they lied about his father, dies. Irma continues to write. José Leoncio and Filo are still lovers. Juvo asks Irma what his grandfather meant; Irma tells him that his father is alive, that his parents separated when he was little, makes him promise not to tell anybody that he knows. More time passes. All grow up and older. José Leoncio hires Silverio. JL tells Silverio that María Madruagua and her daughter live on his land under his protection. More years pass. All grow up, grow old. A woman and man, Bruno, arrive by boat seeking vengeance for the death of her father and his ? . He kills Marujuaguar, is found by Silveiro, gives a false name, is treated for injuries from a jaguar. The woman pretends to be mute and is taken in by Marujuaguar and Juma before the former is killed. She tells Bruno that she will take care of things in her own way. An old man kills Bruno after he leaves Juma’s house. A new family moves into the hacienda near José Leoncio. Tadeo is attracted to the daughter, Guta. Juve, encouraged by Irma, writes to his father and arranges to visit him. Madelaine is upset but Gustavo tells her that it had to happen sooner or later. Juve arrives and says he imagined his father older; José Leóncio says he imagined Juve younger. Guta flirts with one of her father’s employees, Altiré, and with Juve. Juve refuses to fight with him and refuses to ride the horse his father wants to give him because he is afraid of horses. His reputation suffers. Filo tells Juve that his father kept his crib and defends him to his father. José Leoncio and Juve talk. JL explains why he didn’t fight for custody. Apparently, however, they never divorced. The old man visits Juma. Juve’s girlfriend in the city, Alva, tells his mother and aunt that she is pregnant: they had sex when he painted her nude and that was two weeks ago. Madelaine and Irma are not concerned. JL learns that Guta’s father buys and sells land. Is he the same Tenorio who embezzled money and hurt his friends years before?. Juve and Tadeo visit Juma and she runs them off. Juve asks Tado if Filo loves his father; he says she just works in the house. Juve and Guta go to visit Juma, but she is not home. Then they go skinny-dipping and make love. Juma and the mute see them and steal their clothes. Naked they walk to her home, having guessed who did it, and recover their clothes. Guta tells her mother she is in love. Juve tries to ride a horse, but just petting it terrifies him. Gustavo tells Irma he has broken up definitively with Madelaine; after all these years she still can’t stop talking about him or forget his smell. JL wants Juve to go to the city with him, but Juve has overheard him tell Filo how disappointed in him he is, and refuses. Out en el campo, Juve is bitten by a snake. José Leoncio comes home but an all-out search cannot find his son. Silverio suggests that the boy must be dead and José Leoncio fires him. Meanwhile, el viejo del rio has found him and taken him to Juma’s.

USA, 5/1-5/00. Juma lies to Silverio and Tadeo when they ask if she has seen Juve. José Leoncio goes to Rio and tells Juve’s family that he is lost and may be dead. Before he leaves, he tells Madelaine that it is time to divorce and he will sign whatever papers are necessary. Guta asks Juma if she has seen Juve and, again, Juma lies. Silverio leaves the ranch, goes to Juma’s to say good-bye and finds Juve, barely alive, there. Juma explains that Juve belongs to El Viejo Del Rio who saved his life. Juve wakes up and feels himself to be a different person. He tells Silverio to let his parents think he is dead, he will stay in the jungle with El Viejo. José Leoncio tells Tadeo that he will sell everything (I think) and meanwhile put him in charge. Silverio offers to stay and work with Juma (who now has a fair number of cattle from the couple José Leoncio gave her mother). He seems interested in the mute. Juve leaves. Silverio tells Tadeo and ? that Juve is alive but not where he is. Juve returns, having seen the dead snake who bit him. Juma tells Juve that he must leave. Guta meets Juve and Silverio on the river and takes Juve home. He calls his mother. José Leoncio thanks Juma and convinces Silverio to return with him. Juve confront José Leoncio: isn’t Tadeo his son, too? He prepares to return to Rio. But he changes his mind. Juma is attacked by a passing man, bites off his ear. El Viejo sees the man’s boat and sets it adrift. Tadeo and Juve see the man running. Juve talks with José Leoncio, then with Filo, then calls Tadeo his brother. The mute decides it is time to kill Juma but Juma finds her with the rifle at a woman and the mute does nothing. Alva tells Gustavo that Juve doesn’t like women; he photographed her nude and did nothing, she is still a virgin. She lied because she loved him and he made her feel like garbage but now she (Alva) loves him (Gustavo). The mute thinks about killing Juma as she talks about learning how to read, that her father is dead (not knowing that her father killed the mute’s father). When Juma is sleeping, the mute takes the rifle and aims, pulls the trigger but it doesn’t fire. She puts the rifle back. Gustavo tells Madelaine that Alva told him Juve was gay. Madelaine tells Irma who doesn’t believe it. Juve talks with El Viejo. Juve tells Juma that she is very beautiful and he can’t stop thinking about her. He tells Guta that he photographed Juma nude. JL gets information on a man: not what he appears to be, is rich but has stolen land from many people. Juve and Guta overhear. They guess that JL is talking about Guta’s father. She leaves.

5/8-12/00. Guta’s father tells her about his father’s death, the coffee plantation, how he met her mother. Juve tells JL that he doesn’t love Juma, just wants to photograph her, she is an animal, an hombre mujer. Juve fishes with Juma, they swim together but she gets out when he touches her. Silverio tells the mute that he loves her. JL and Filo spend most of the 5/8 episode discussing whether or not Juve is gay (they’re almost convinced when they discover that Juve swam nude with Juma but never touched her). In Rio, his mother, aunt and grandmother are similarly concerned because of Alva’s accusation. JL tells Juve to leave, he is not the kind of son he wanted. Juve takes his things to Juma’s. Guta confronts her father about his past and he seems to explain things to her satisfaction. Silverio tells José Leoncio that Juve is living with Juma. Guta assures Filo that Juve isn’t gay. Silverio and José Leoncio visit Juma. Not knowing they are inside, they talk about how uneducated Juma is, how she doesn’t even know the value of the cattle she has. Juma confronts them and tells them that Juve went with El Viejo. Juve sees a letter Juma has kept from her mother, a letter she can’t read. He offers to teach her and begins lessons. They go swimming and become lovers. Silverio visits the mute and remarks that he thinks she doesn’t talk solely because she doesn’t want to. Juve swears to stay with Juma. When José Leoncio learns that Juve is with Juma, he threatens to take her cattle and force her off his land if Juve doesn’t return. So Juve does and agrees to leave. But he gets Tadeo to land near Juma’s house and picks her up to take her with him to the city. The mute, free to speak since she is now alone, wonders what she should do. Silverio is worried about her because she lacks Juma’s skills. José Leoncio admits to Silverio that he would never have taken the cattle from Juma, he couldn’t risk it! Juve sneaks Juma into his house and shows her how to take a shower. In the pantanal, the mute hears a growl at night, thinks it is the jaguar form of Mariamajuguar and shoots. Silverio visits Juma’s hut and hears the mute talking to herself. She explains that it was the fright of the jaguar attack. He takes her to the hacienda where she is permitted to stay in exchange for work around the house. The next day, Tiberio(?) finds El Viejo with a bullet in his shoulder and removes it. Juve asks Juma if she is still a virgin but she doesn’t understand what it means. It appears that they have not yet made love together although they seem to share the same bed. Irma takes Juma shopping. Madelaine doesn’t like her and thinks she is taking advantage of Juve. Juventino tells his abuela that he loves Juma. She wants only to go home.

USA, 5/15-19/00. Tenorio tells José Leoncio he knows that he investigated him but that is all right. They become associates. At a campfire, a drunk Tenorio objects to the attention the peón Tadeo pays to Guta. José Leoncio declares that Tadeo is his son and heir to all he possesses. Filo tells Silverio that the mute is too young for him. There is a change in the government and a new currency is issued. Juve’s abuela tells the family that they are broke. Back at the ranch, not understanding José Leoncio’s instructions about the currency change, Tadeo sells cattle for the wrong currency. Silverio and Tadeo visit the buyer and explain and he issues a new check in the right currency. Madelaine tells Juma to go home, which is what Juma wants. Juve talks to Gustavo about the past (Gustavo explains that he went to the hacienda at Madelaine’s request and that they were not lovers at the time, that he and Madelaine never married because she could never forget José Leoncio) and they understand each other better. Juve tells Alva that she shouldn’t have lied about her pregnancy or his being gay and tells her that he loves Juma. Guta goes swimming nude while she insists that Alcides stay in the canoe. Juve and Juma return to the Pantanal, pick up the mute at the hacienda and return to Juma’s hut. On the way there, Tiberio tells them about el Viejo and how he reminds him of José Leoncio. Later Juve asks el viejo if he is his grandfather. El Viejo says that his grandfather died from the bite of a poisonous snake. Tiberio tells his suspicion to Silverio and José Leoncio. The latter two take the canoe out near where El Viejo was last seen and José Leoncio reminisces about his father, about growing up, about how he missed him when he disappeared. El Viejo watches (and listens?) from behind a tree on the river bank. Juma, hearing the mute sing, thinks the mute’s explanation of her loss of memory and recovery of speech very strange. Juma tells Juve he can’t stay if he doesn’t learn to ride. El Viejo teaches Juve to ride and his father is pleased to see him on a horse. Silverio tells la muda that he loves her and she tells him her name, Maria Ruth, and her story: how Juma’s mother killed her father, how she promised her mother to kill her and her daughter. Silverio tells her that Juma has lost even more than she has. La muda says she has changed her mind, won’t kill Juma, and gets his silence. José Leoncio searches for El Viejo but never finds him.

USA, 5/22-26/00. A new character, José Lucas, appears. He is played by the same actor who played the young José Leoncio. He is a truck driver and while on the road gives a lift to a woman who draws a gun on him. She and an accomplice steal his truck, his papers, and the cattle he was carrying. For some reason, she decides not to kill him and he finally gets a lift to the police who tell him that he is not the first. Alcides draws a knife on Guta and threatens to rape her; she has played with him enough. Guta says she will not surrender; he drops the knife and takes her back home. He says he would never really have hurt her. She promises not to say anything but tells him that he will never again accompany her. Levy makes crude advances toward la muda which she eventually accepts. She tells Silverio that she loves him but not as he loves her. Guta and Tadeo become lovers. While Irma and Madelaine are talking at home, Irma lets slip something about Filo’s cooking and Madelaine realizes that Irma has been to the Pantanal. She accuses her of having slept with her husband and Irma admits it. They have a terrible fight. Irma goes to the Pantanal and José Leoncio shows her his ranch. They talk of the past. It was the best thing that ever happened to her, how she fell in love with at first sight, but he makes it clear that it was the past. Filo is the present. Filo is, however, jealous. Maria overhears Tenoria and Guta talking about his other family (“wife” and children) and is deeply hurt. She stops cooking and cleaning. José Lucas gets several rides, first with a young man then with an older man. He is determined to get to Paraguay and find his truck, his papers and his cattle.

USA, 5/29-6/2/00. 5/29. Juve is bored. Juma refuses to leave. Filo overhears José Leoncio say that Tadeo has no head for business, that he is a peon. Madelaine flies to the Pantanal and her plane goes down in a storm. It is found in a river; she and the pilot Augustín are presumed dead. Their bodies are not found.

USA, 5/30. Tiberio tells Juve that his mother’s plane crashed. Alcides tells Juma that Tenorio, the father of Guta, was really responsible for the death of her parents. Tenorio deceived everybody. The man her father killed was just defending himself. He tells her to talk to la muda. Irma and Juve fly home. La muda goes to Juma. They swim and la muda tells her the story, that her father killed the wrong man. Tenorio realizes his wife knows about his other family and finally talks to her about Zuleika, the other woman.

USA, 5/31. José Lucas is working on a cattle ranch and has never felt so happy. He doesn’t know the name of his father but knows that his grandfather’s name was Juventino. The muda tells Juma the whole story, how the real culprit was Tenorio. They pledge vengeance. Juve and Irma return to the city and tell Mariana about Madelaine’s death. Fila tells Guta to stay away from Tadeo. Juve finds Alva living with Gustavo although they are not yet lovers. José Lucas meets José Leoncio who is shocked by his looks. Juma agrees to sell some of her cattle.

USA, 6/1. José Leoncio and Filo wonder about José Lucas, could he be another son of Juventino’s? Mariana tells Juve to return to the Pantanal, to fight, to marry Juma. Gustavo and Alva become lovers. Levy tries to take advantage of la muda but El Viejo stops him. He tells Juma and la muda that the boa will take care of Tenorio. Irma and Juve return, to stay for good. Maria flirts with Alcides.

USA, 6/2. Juve returns to Juma. Maria continues to flirt with Alcides. Juve asks his father for a room for him and Juma and he agrees.

USA, 6/5-9/00. José Lucas and Julio arrive. Juve and Juma move into the house. José Leoncio asks José Lucas about his father and for the first time he lies. Levy and Tiberio fight over la muda. Levy knifes Tiberio badly and runs away. Irma meets José Lucas and is also struck by his looks. The other peons tie Levy up to wait for José Leoncio who has taken Tiberio to a hospital. Filo gives Juma a nightgown and perfume from years before. Juve is furious when he smells it; he tells her he likes her clean scent and, besides, it is the perfume of her mother. La muda frees Levy, tells him she loved him and will go with him if he kills Tenorio. Alcides takes Levy to the ranch. José Leoncio and José Lucas have a long talk. José Lucas tells him that his mother was Generosa, that his “grandmother” was Anna, the madam of the house. He talks about the man Juventino who used to shut down all the “houses” when he and his crew were in town. José Leoncio tells him that he could be his half-brother because his father was Juventino and he knows of Generosa and Anna. But José Lucas tells him that his mother was the only woman in the house who never slept with Juventino and he mentions the nickname she gave the man who was his father. José Leoncio recognizes the name and admits that Generosa was his first woman. They realize they may be father and son. The news spreads. Juve immediately accepts him as a brother but José Lucas is reluctant. Both he and his putative father agree that the matter must be researched a bit more. Trinidad asks José Lucas if he has noticed the way Irma looks at him; he says he wishes Juma would look at him that way. While José Leoncio is in the city with Tenorio, Juve arranges a cattle drive with José Lucas and the others. He learns to blow a horn and bears up under the pain of riding all day. Back at the ranch, Tadeo gets news of a flood. The drive must be stopped, but how. Trinidad has some kind of vision of a flood and insists that they return, which they do. Meanwhile, Guta and Tadeo have reconciled. They visit Juma’s house and find an anaconda there which Tadeo refuses to kill; it could be his grandfather. The group returns home and learn that Trinidad was right: there was a flood. Irma has José Lucas ride with her; he is very uncomfortable and afterwards asks her to select another companion. She is obviously attracted to him because of her memories. 6/9/00. Juma and José Lucas disappear. Juma is thrown by a horse. Tenorio promises Alcides land; he tells him about muda’s father. El Viejo asks Juve if he has made love to Juma. Guta takes a room in Filo’s house. José Lucas takes the unconscious Juma to her house. Levy makes love to Maria. José Lucas hears a jaguar while caring for Juma. El Viejo arrives. El Viejo tells him his real name must be José Lucas Leoncio. The horses return to Juma’s house and she wakes up, a little faint. Juve finds José Lucas and Juma together. José Lucas explains and calls Juve “hermano”; now he believes that he is the son of José Leoncio. When José Lucas sees José Leoncio he calls him “papa” and explains about El Viejo. José Leoncio announces that José Lucas is his son, his first born. The three brothers embrace. The maid sees María and Levy and says to herself that it will end in death. Irma remembers that Juve’s birthday is today. Guta warns Tadeo that José Lucas could be a fraud who wants to take advantage of them. She tells Tadeo that Filo doesn’t like her.

USA, 6/12-16/00. Levy and Alcides begin to distrust each other. Tenorio almost finds Maria with Levy. Irma kisses José Lucas but calls him José Leoncio. Guta tells her mother that she likes Tadeo but doesn’t love him, doesn’t intend to marry him. Juma leaves. On the river, Alcides admits to Levy that Tenorio ordered him to kill him in exchange for land. Levy shoots at Alcides but he escapes under water. Levy goes to Juma’s house and tells her that he has escaped from Tenorio who has just killed Alcides. She feeds him then sends him off. In the city, Tenorio tells his other family that “la bruja” now knows about them (he has three sons). Levy takes la muda at knife point. Juma shoots him in the arm. Fleeing in a canoe, Levy challenges Tiberio who has come after him. Tiberio shoots him, he falls into the river and is killed by an anaconda. Tenorio can’t believe that María would leave him. Zuleika tells Tenorio that perhaps it is time for him to choose between them. José Lucas tells his father that neither he nor Juve should join them on the cometiva(?). Filo hears Jleoncio tell Irma that he’ll teach Juve the business. She wishes she hadn’t lied to him about Tadeo’s being his son, but he was so depressed by Madelaine’s leaving and taking their son. Juma feels something for Jlucas and it scares her. Irma realizes that Trinidad likes her. Zuleika’s sons ask their mother what would happen if Jleoncio died?. Would they be provided for? Maria seduces Alcides. Filo tells Jleoncio and Irma that according to la muda, nothing has happened between Juma and Juve. Neither can believe it. Alcides and Maria think about each other. He finds himself very interested in her. Juma and la muda return to the hacienda. Tenorio tells Guta he can’t choose between his wives. Filo talks to Juma about babies and learns how scared she is. Trinidad warns Jlucas not to fall in love with Juma. Jleoncio tries to talk to Juve about Juma and sex. He can’t believe that she doesn’t want it. Mariana sends Juve a video camera, and a message from her, for his birthday. Filo sees Irma and Jleoncio together. She tells him that she has never forgotten him and declares her love. They embrace. Juve and Jleoncio travel together. Tadeo is jealous. Tenorio goes to Saó Paulo again. Juma, joined on the way by Jlucas, visits her home again. Juve and his father visit his other haciendas. Juma tells Irma that her mother lost 3 babies, told her children were born only to make one suffer. Irma tells her it is different now, she needn’t be afraid. Juma finds Jlucas at her house, waiting for her.

USA, 6/19-23/00. Jlucas tells Juma he loves her like a sister. Sefa, the servant in Guta’s house, likes Tadeo. Filo doesn’t like Guta who has made up with Tadeo. Trinidad flirts again with Irma. Maria tells Alcides that it is over but he doesn’t want it to be. Guta apparently uses the rhythm method for birth control because she resists his advances when she “remembers”. She tries to explain to him that she doesn’t want to get pregnant, have children yet, that one shouldn’t until one is ready to parent them. He says he hadn’t even thought of that. Then she tells him she has decided she wants to marry him. Maria tells Tenorio she won’t bother him about his other family any more. Tenorio and Maria approve of Guta and Tadeo; Leoncio and Filo don’t. Juma breaks up again with Juve. Juve tells Irma to go to Rio and bring Mariana back to the ranch. Leoncio and Filo, at Tadeo’s insistence, visit Tenorio and Maria but instead of asking for Guta’s hand for their son, Tenorio expresses his disapproval of the relationship. Jleoncio tells Tadeo that if he marries Guta, he can leave the hacienda forever. Tadeo decides to go and asks for his earnings for all the work he has done over the years. Leoncio pays him off and Tadeo goes to Guta’s home. Juve tries to explain again to his father about Juma. He loves her and she likes to be kissed and caressed but she is deathly afraid of having children and doesn’t want sex so he doesn’t insist. This is, he says, real love. Guta tells Tadeo she can’t marry him, she can’t be the cause of a break between him and his family. Tadeo returns home and reconciles with Filo and Jleoncio. They assume that Guta changed her mind because of the loss of an inheritance but I think they are wrong. Sefa sees Alcides coming out of Maria’s room and blackmails her to keep quiet; she wants permission, and gets it, to visit the Leoncio ranch. Marcelo, Guta’s best friend and half-brother, arrives at the ranch with Tenorio. Juve realizes that José Lucas loves Juma. Guta decides not to leave because of Marcelo. Tenorio tells Maria he loves her, he loves them both in the same way. He begs her to treat Marcelo with respect, as Zuleika would treat Guta. Maria sort of tries. She asks about the family and learns there are three brothers: Marcelo, Roberto and Renato.

USA, 6/26-30/00. La muda and Tiberio decide to marry. Marcelo takes Guta to the city where she meets Zuleika and the other brothers. It is obvious that Guta likes Marcelo. Juve goes to the city. Jlucas visits Juma, denigrates Juve, tries to kiss her. El viejo stops him. Tadeo and Sefa talk and Flirt. Tadeo tells his mother that he is now in love with Sefa, Tenorio’s housekeeper. Guta, Marcelo and Tenorio return to the Pantanal where Marcelo wants to work for his father. Juve tells Juma that her parents were married (he found their marriage certificate, her father’s proof of service in the army, etc. in the papers Juma had saved but never been able to read; there was, however, no birth certificate for her). Irma and Trinidad begin an affair. Jlucas confesses his feelings for Juma to Jleoncio who convinces him not to leave the hacienda. Tadeo swims nude while Sefa turns her back. Guta knows about her mother Maria and Alcides. La muda is attracted to Marcelo. Juma tells Juve he should not have taken a picture of El Viejo. El Viejo asks for the film and Juve gives him one canister but hides the other. El Viejo says that Juve has betrayed him and he will never see him again. Guta tells Marcelo that she loves him; Sefa sees them kissing passionately. Tenorio shoots at an anaconda that almost attacks him in the river. La muda is afraid that he killed El Viejo. She tells Tiberio she won’t marry him unless he kills Tenorio. He refuses and convinces her that murder is not the answer.

ULTIMOS CAPITULOS.

USA, 7/3-7/7/00. Tenorio overhears Sefa and Alcides talking and discovers that Maria was unfaithful with both Levy and Alcides. El periodista thanks José Lucas, her first lover, but tells him she must return to her own world. Tenorio plans his vengeance. Juma discovers that Juve lied about the photo of el viejo; he kept an undeveloped roll with el viejo’s picture on it and plans to have it developed. She becomes furious; José Leoncio locks her in her room but she escapes and returns to the jungle. All search for her but can’t find her. The photo has a blank spot where el viejo should be. Alcides goes to work for José Leoncio. Alcides tells la muda to forget about Tenorio, that he was only working for somebody else. Alcides says he just wants to live in peace. Jleoncio tells Juve there’s no sign of either Juma or Jlucas. Sefa is fired and Filo gives her work in the house. Alcides tells Maria that her husband knows about them. They make love again and are almost caught by Tenorio when he arrives, quietly, by boat rather than by plane (noisily). Jlucas helps Juma in her home and with the cattle; she remarks that Juve never did any work for her. Maria is happy that Tenorio didn’t bring the “other” back with him. Tenorio tells Maria to leave, then he tells Guta.

USA, 7/10-14/00. Juve confesses to his grandmother how he lied to Juma and el viejo. Juma asks Jlucas to stay with her. Juve calls Jlucas a bastard and threatens to leave if his father recognizes him. Tenorio is upset by María’s unfaithfulness since he was always faithful to the two of them and Zuleika never cheated on him. Maria tries to shoot Tenorio but misses. He gives her money and tells her to leave. She gets on the boat. Guta is very unhappy. Jleoncio goes to Juma’s house and finds Jlucas there. Maria tries to jump off the boat but the captain stops her, tells her life is always worth living. Juve finds Jlucas and Juma together and they almost fight but Jleoncio stops them. Maria decides to stay on the boat. Tenorio brings Zuleika and his other sons to the Pantanal. Tadeo and Sefa are happy together but she won’t let him make love to her. Jlucas talks to Juma about whether she or Jleoncio owns her land; he says he thinks there is a law that gives the land to “squatters” after a period of time if the owner has never objected. Guta feels alone; she and Juve talk together. Irma tells Trinidad that she is pregnant but he already knows. Zuleika overhears Guta and Marcelo talking of their love for each other; she doesn’t have the courage to tell them that they are not related. El periodista Erica and her politician father Ibrahim arrive at the Pantanal. She is pregnant. Jlucas tells his father that he likes her and is prepared to marry her. El Viejo visits Juma, tells her to tell Jlucas to go and to forgive Juve. Juve and Jlucas reconcile. Mariana talks to Trinidad, tries to explain about the doctor. Guta tells Jleoncio that Maria has left the house and they want to buy ? . Juve tries to forget Juma. Trinidad warns Irma to stay at the Pantanal. Tenorio tells Jleoncio that he wants Sefa back but Jleoncio tells him that she is free to work for whom she chooses. Juve meets a girl, Miriam, at the fiesta to whom he is attracted. Zeuleika tells Marcelo to separate himself from Guta. Guta can’t handle the situation with Zuleika. Sefa lets Tadeo sleep in her bed but nothing more. Rifle shots are heard on the Pantanal. The casadores(?).

USA, 7/17-21/00. Zuleika tells Guta her love is impossible and tells her that she would rather live in the city. Guta sees her mother on the boat. Filo sees Tadeo hiding next to Sefa’s bed. Miriam invites Juve to her hotel room but he refuses. She was married. El Viejo visits Juma and they talk about lies. Guta tells Tenorio she saw her mother on the chalana(?). Mariana’s major domo, Arqueo(?), tries to ride a horse. Guta takes a canoe out to the chalana(?) and tries to convince her mother to come back with her but Maria refuses; she is happy where she is. Guta, upset, yells at Marcelo, Zuleika, Tenorio. Zuleika tells Tenorio that Guta and Marcelo love each other. Zuleika, seeing the pain of Guta and Marcelo, tells Guta the truth: Marcelo is not her brother. She admits to Guta that at first she felt gratitude to Tenorio, then fear, then a form of love. Guta decides to stay and apologizes to her father. Then she tells Marcelo the truth and is so happy at first that she doesn’t realize that Marcelo is distressed by the news. Juve, Irma and Mariana must go back to the city because of some business. When Irma tells Trinidad, he tells her he already knew. Trinidad warns Alcides about Tenorio, that neither gun nor knife can kill him. Zuleika tells Marcelo that his father is still alive and promises one day to tell him his name. Alcides and la muda visit Juma and plot vengeance against Tenorio. Guta and Marcelo swim, make love. Irma, Juve and Mariana arrive in town and find that their house has been completely ransacked; everything has been stolen. Alcides tells Maria that he wants to live with her. Filo and Tadeo visit Juma. Filo talks to her about love and Juve. Alcides tells Juma the whole story about her father and la muda’s father, etc. Alcides takes Maria to Jleoncio’s home. Marcelo’s two brothers get lost on the river when the motor on their boat stops but are found safe and sound. Juve and his family return to the ranch, having sold everything they could. Trinidad is angry: he knows that Irma saw a doctor. Alcides tells Maria that they should kill Tenorio. Ibrahim has problems with his campaign and asks for the opinion of José Lucas who tells him that sincerity is important. Alcides and Maria visit Juma. Jleoncio talks to Maria about her rights and she agrees to sell him her part of Tenorio’s holdings. Trinidad won’t talk to Irma. He goes into a trance and the other peons swear that his guitar played itself. Trinidad sees El Viejo in the picture in the living room, in which everybody else sees just a blob. Tenorio goes to Juma with a proposition but she forces him away with a gun before he can make his proposal.

USA, 7/24-28/00. El Viejo forgives Juve. Guta and Marcel visit her mother. Juve and Juma reunite. Juma says her mother has left, that the jaguar was killed. She returns to Jleoncio’s home. Trinidad tells Irma that her child will be his not theirs; this scares her. Marcelo’s brothers want to go back to the city. A lawyer talks with Maria and explains her rights. Trinidad tells Irma that he has seen his destiny: he must take his own road and leave their baby with her. She can’t change his mind. Alcides offers to teach Arqueo? how to be a real peon. The next morning, Trinidad and his belongings are gone. We see him riding away on his horse. Tenorio learns about the divorce proceedings and the embargo on his money and property and is furious. He talks to Maria in front of Leoncio but she doesn’t change her mind. Guta discovers that she is pregnant and tells Marcelo and Zuleika. Sefa, to her shame, finally becomes Tadeo’s lover. Filo tries to console her and José Leoncio talks to Tadeo about marriage but Tadeo doesn’t see any reason to marry. After all, his father (supuestamente José Leoncio) never married his mother Filo. Zuleika tells Marcelo and Guta what happened when she was a student. She and a friend ran away from a demonstration, wrote on a wall “make love not war”, were attacked and raped. Later she met Tenorio who was very kind to her. They married and she let him think the child, Marcelo, was his.

ULTIMA SEMANA. 7/31-8/4/00. NOTE: Telemundo made huge cuts in the episodes of this week so much is unexplained. José Lucas comes back from the city with political ambitions. José Leoncio warns him that his birth and upbringing will go against him but he doesn’t care. (The journalist had lied: she wasn’t pregnant. But she was her father’s daughter and used a false pregnancy to win the man she wanted. Note: doesn’t make sense since she was the one who left José Lucas and he would probably have married her if she had stayed.) Tenorio asks María to return to him but she says no. Zuleika tells her sons they will return to Saó Paulo because Tenorio wants Maria back. Guta tells Maria about Marcelo. Tenorio hires Teodoro, supposedly as a peon but in reality to kill José Leoncio and his sons. One day when José Lucas is out riding, Teodoro shoots him in the chest. When José Lucas doesn’t return home, and his horse is found in the river, all are worried. El Viejo cares for him in Juma’s house and saves his life. He returns home and tells the story. One morning, Tenorio asks Marcelo where he slept and accuses him of having slept with his sister Guta. In the next scene, Roberto is killed by the anaconda in the river while Teodoro watches from a tree. (we never learn what he did to deserve this death). Zuleika tells Renato that Marcelo is not Tenorio’s son and Tenorio overhears. Zuleika tells Tenorio the whole story and he feels cheated but forgives her. He tells Marcelo that he will always be his son and Marcelo calls him “padre”; their child will, of course, be his nieto because of Guta. (Telemundo shows the scene in which Teodoro tells of Roberto’s death but we never see any reaction.) Renato, Teodoro and Tenorio set out to kill José Leoncio’s family. We don’t see anything. Tenorio decides to lie low for a while. He agrees to the divorce and distribution of property. 3 months pass. The divorce is final; Maria will be a millionaire. Tenorio thinks to himself that now is the time for his vengeance. José Leoncio has chest pains but dismisses them. Then we see José Lucas and Alcires attack Teodoro in his bed for shooting José Lucas (but don’t know how they learned it was him). But the police have no record on Teodoro, he admits nothing, and the brothers let him go with an apology and a horse. Irma, in Trinidad’s voice, issues some kind of warning. Tenorio decides that they will pretend he has fired Teodoro until he is ready for his vengeance. Teodoro moves into Juma’s home. El Viejo visits, as himself, then, as the anaconda, kills Teodoro.

CAPITULOS FINALES. 8/2/00. 2 months pass. Tenorio hands over the papers to Maria. All eat together. Irma goes into labor, fearful that the baby will be a devil. We don’t see the birth. Juma realizes it is time for her baby to be born but that’s all we see. Maria and Alcires return to the room at the ranch where they made love. Tenorio finds them there, confronts them with two guns, and takes them to Juma’s house. There he castrates Alcires and, it is implies, rapes Maria. Maria and Alcires lie about what happened; they say they were attacked by a jaguar. Alcires is desolate. Irma and Juma both appear to have given birth but we see nor hear either child. Guta goes into labor. But we don’t see the birth. Sarqueo overhear Maria and Alcires talking and learns what happened. Maria tells Filo what happened and she tells José Leoncio. Sarqueo agrees to help Alcires kill Tenorio. The morning that his sons leave by plane. Tenorio muses that he really loved Maria and misses her and they deserved what he got (although he says something that implies that he didn’t castrate Alcires). Later, Alcires with a spear (Trinidad had told him that no arm of fire could kill Tenorio) and Sarqueo with a gun confront Tenorio. Tenorio aims at Alcires but Sarqueo distracts him and when he turns to shoot Sarqueo, Alcires runs him through with a spear. Sarqueo survives and tells the police he killed Tenorio in self-defense. Alcires tells José Leoncio what really happened. Alcires discovers that he wasn’t castrated just hurt. He and María leave on the last chalana (the chalanero(?) is retiring) without saying good-bye. Sarqueo misses Alcires. José Leoncio finally tells Zuleika and Guta that Tenorio was killed by one of his peons and that his body is in the river. Renato swears vengeance and turns up at the ranch with a gun. Juma and la muda, forewarned, protect Sarqueo. La muda urges Juma to kill Renato or the story will be repeated.

GRAN FINAL. 8/4/00. Marcelo arrives at the ranch and talks with Renato, says that he has learned what kind of man his father was. They leave. José Leoncio and his three sons go on a comitiva together. Marcelo, Renato, Guta and Zuleika talk. Marcelo says that Renato knew what his father was, that he was prepared to help him kill the Leoncio family and Renato admits it is true. Sarqueo now wears a gun. Filo hears the cuerno and recognizes it as José Leoncio’s. But then she hears another, as does Jleoncio and his sons. It gives her chills. Jleoncio recognizes the sound as his father’s. Sefa tries on her wedding dress. The sons visit Zuleika and return Renato’s gun, tell him that they want peace between the families. Tadeo tells Jleoncio he talked with El Viejo who called him his grandson, not of the blood perhaps but of the heart. Jleoncio embraces him and says that he has always been his son. [The truth about Tadeo’s father must have come out in one of the scenes we didn’t see.] Zuleia, Renato, Marcelo heard cattle together. Tadeo and Sefa invite Guta and her family to a party: the weddings of José Leoncio and Filo, José Lucas and Irma, Tadeo and Sefa. They accept. On the river, Tadeo and Sefa see José Leoncio and Filo swimming nude. Maria Ruth tells Tiberio that she never wants to leave; he agrees. He’s bought Juma’s land from José Leoncio. I think she is pregnant. The couples wed. El Viejo walks by the river. José Leoncio wakes early and goes downstairs, feels pain in his chest, then another pain. He looks at the photo with the cloud in the center and sees his father. Then we see him riding a horse and greeting his father who tells him that he is tired, it is his son’s turn. Filo wakes and finds José Leoncio dead in his chair. She screams. She watches the funeral cortege on the river. Then we see her sitting alone outside. Next we see El Viejo (José Leoncio) with a young boy and a young girl: a boy who likes to play the guitar (Trinidad’s son by Irma) and a girl who turns into a jaguar but only when she is angry (Juma’s son). Filo, still in the same position, mentions the passing time. Then she thinks: "Si mi José Leôncio es mismo el viejo del Río, porque no aparece para mi?" Y las palabras finales: "El hombre es el unico animal que suja la água que bebe, Que corta el árbol que le dá frutos, Que mata el animal que no vá a comer y por esso está condenandose a própria muerte" Terminando con la assinatura: Palabras de mi padre, El Viejo del Río BENEDITO RUY BARBOSA (El autor de la telenovela)

Telenovela-World (www.telenovela-world.com) Copyright 2007

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