El Chivo: Initial Thoughts

The story of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, the Dominican Republic's most famous dictator (1930 - 1961) is the subject of Univsion's new epic television novela El Chivo.

Univision is a Spanish language network in the US and Latin America.

This is not the first time this era of Dominican history get's air time. The story of the reign of El Chivo (The Goat as he was called) has been subject of a several films: In the Time of the Butterflies (2001), The Feast of the Goat (2005), Tropico de Sangre (2010), but this is the first time where the central character is none other than Trujillo himself. All previous incarnations have centered around his female victims (like the Maribal sisters).

Surprisingly enough, this is only the 2nd time this story has been told in Spanish. Both earlier films were in English.

Initial Dislikes:

• None of the main actors are Dominican. The lead is Mexican and most of the supporting cast are Columbian or Peruvian.
• The audio was weird, it seemed as though it was dubbed or terribly out of sync.
• Camera angle choices were poor. The sets were beautifully elaborate but why can't I properly see the person who is speaking?
• Too much happened in the first episode, it was non-stop action from beginning to end which did not leave room for character development.
• Rafael is evil from the first frame. Though this is a recount of history it is an adaptation for television, the character needs somewhere to go.

Initial Likes:

• This is a story about my home country, a tiny island nation that doesn't get much attention.
• It's in Spanish!
• The main character is Rafael. The HBO film House of Saddam did a great job at turning a villain into the main character, I hope this series does the same.
• The female characters are thinkers and have a lot more depth than their male counterparts (though the male characters need to have depth too).

So far more dislikes than likes, let's see if my opinion changes as the series progresses.