Doña Bárbara

Yes, that is a big claim. To say teh camera loved her is an understatement.

You should watch this movie just to say you saw her at her zenith. Those eyes. Wow.

I have just seen this movie for the 12-15th time and I still find something extraordinarily fascinating every time I watch it. This movie is based on a novel by Venezuela's Romulo Gallegos one of Latin America best writer. The movie is so profound, because you can see so many aspects of the human being in it. You can find hate, witchcraft, religion, love, impotency and repentance, mainly because of the ignorance of people. This movie develops in the great Venezuela Savannahs, where the law of the stronger prevailed. The dialogs, so strong and captivating, are possible due to Gallegos very strong command of the Spanish Language and the slang of the peasants of that region. As I have mentioned before for a couple of other movies, this one is best appreciated if you understand Spanish. I may see it again another dozen times, and I am sure I would still enjoy it, as I hope you may too. This movie is officially rated as the 75th in importance in the Mexican Cinematography, to which I TOTALLY DISAGREE. It should be in the top 10.

This is a great movie Maria at the top of her beauty and power i don't think Romulo Gallego the author of the novel never image a more perfect Dona Barbara than Maria Felix she has everything the part required , this was her third movie , the one that will immortalized her for eternity , maria based in this part created her own legend , i saw the movie long ago and i love it , have to said back in my country Cuba they did the television version of dona barbara with a very great actress and beautiful Raquel Revuelta i will said even maria was more beautiful and more charismatic Raquel was a better actress but maria was incomparable,maria is the divina garza

This is a film not to be missed. The title role is arguably the greatest female character in Latin American literature. And Maria Felix? ...Such a supreme screen goddess in Latin American cinema, I can't think of an English-speaking equivalent.

For a Mexican particularly, to see Dona Barbara brought to life by the legendary Maria Felix is like an Anglo having seen Sarah Bernhard in her best role, I suppose. Felix and her films are still very popular, even in distant Brazil, a Latin cousin to Mexico (we speak Portuguese). This film and other Felix films, along with those of the Classic Golden Period of Mexican Cinema (to which this movie belongs) are shown in restrospectives in Rio, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires quite frequently.

DONA BARBARA is a Pan-Latin American story, and female character. She could be Mexican, Brazilian, Argentinian,...well the novel was written by Venezuela's greatest novelist, so....Venezuelan or Colombian too. And similarly, Felix is the all-Latin American actress, an unsurpassed talent standard, against whom all other great Latin actresses aspire to be compared against.

Look, the film is simply wonderful, even without the double treat of Felix and Dona Barbara. I saw a video copy of it at a Florida public library's video section, so there may be a copy near you. look for it. It is a true classic featuring two classics!

A friend of mine is reading "Doña Bárbara", that masterpiece by the Venezuelan writer Rómulo Gallegos and all of a sudden he said "Let's see if the movie made by María Félix from this book in 1943 can be seen on You Tube!!", and right there it was!! Since its protagonist was La Doña, that mythical Mexican beauty from the forties and fifties called María Félix, we didn't think twice, seated down and watched it --well..., we STARTED to watch it...

Wow! what a terrible disappointment!! From the very beginning they distorted the story because young Bárbara was raped by these outlaws being fifteen years old (from here on Bárbara starts hating men --not that anyone could blame her after all) and begins planning her revenge, but by 1943 María Félix was far past her teen years (Thirty, and quite grown up Thirty they were...). And then the acting... overblown dialogs, totally out of place to represent low lives and primitive country people, spoken in an excellent, cultivated Spanish with an emphasis and pomposity only tolerated on a very large auditorium when reciting Shakespeare or when, years ago, children used to represent a short play at the end of the school year, thinking they were rivaling Hollywood stars... without the need for microphones.

The film is SO BAD that we spent only the time to watch only one and a half episodes (it's shown in 14 episodes) but that was more than enough to figure out what was in store for us if we continue to watch this movie, so we said in unison "Forget it!!" and stopped right there the intolerable torture.

Nobody will doubt María Félix beauty (truly AWESOME), but one can certainly doubt about her acting abilities, since she played only herself, the legendary "La Doña" in the Movie Magazines of all Latin America, constantly self conscious about her drop dead looks and as a matter of fact that was the reason for her fantastic success in the business at the time: A truly perfect face with only one expression for everything: Joy, Anger, Sadness, whatever!! her success was the Greta Garbo success with the difference that Garbo could act. Her face was the face of the Sphinx, chiseled in porphyry, perfect for an enamored camera that followed her almost always in constant close ups and from every angle --she could have been the best model in the world for Haute Couture pictures in the glossy expensive fashion magazines of the time, but to convey the story of a simple country girl in a movie... no siree!!

Do not waste your time with this bogey, unless you want to get oodles and oodles of María Félix close ups, just to gaze at her perfect looks (the copy in "You Tube" is excellent, sharpness of image and sound quality alike).