A Próxima Vítima

A Proxima Vitima was very popular in Russia in mid-1990s, when Russians were enchanted by brazilian soap operas. Thrilling plot based on the series of murders makes this novela unique in its kind, as it's the only Brazilian telenovela-police detective. It's in my personal Top-3, along with Vale Tudo and Escrava Isaura.

"Who will be the next victim?" I watched this and I can say without doubts that it was the best soap opera made in Brazil. There was a serial killer in Sao Paulo who killed people with some type of linkage following a misterious "chinese horoscope list" - everything around an italian community. All the characters were suspects and Brazil stopped at the final chapter to see the truth: who was killing, and why. The dialogs were very exciting and the story was full of mistery, suspense, surprises and also comedy - from the beginning to the end. The cast was perfect: Claudia Ohana (Isabela Ferreto), Suzana Vieira (Ana Carvalho), Aracy Balabanian (Filomena Ferreto), Tony Ramos (Juca) and José Wilker (Marcelo) are some examples. Direction by Jorge Fernando and written by a genius, Silvio de Abreu, "A Próxima Vítima" ("The Next Victim") was an incredible success and was exported to Portugal and other many countries (like USA and Russia), but changing the murder on the final chapter to maintain the suspense till the end.

This soap-opera is one of the most awesome ever. It had a perfectly well-written story, with very deep characters and excellent mystery. Impossible not to get captivated by the exciting and delightful suspense, excellently maintained by Silvio de Abreu. Many actors gave standout performances, such as Cláudia Ohana (Isabela, a diabolical villain - oh and what a horrible scar she had in her face!), Rosamaria Murtinho (really, really fun as the charming Romana Ferreto), Yoná Magalhães (gave a very emotional work as Carmela)... and the main standout: Aracy Balabanian (one of her best performances, if not the best, as the powerful and arrogant Filomena Ferreto, literally a female version of Don Corleone). This soap-opera was also innovative because it was the first one to be centered at a crime story. Other soap-operas before it which had a mysterious murder made it a mere attraction beneath its whole plot. This time, almost everything that happened among the different sections of the soap-opera had something to do with the mysterious crimes that were occurring, all of them following the mysterious Chinese horoscope code (a very creative story among soap-operas). This makes "A Próxima Vítima" a superb and very original soap-opera. A true masterpiece, created and written by a true genius, Sílvio de Abreu. Very well-deserved 10 out of 10. It's so sad it has an unfair 6.8 here... it deserves a much better score!

Sorry for my English, just in case...