Bocage

Bocage was a Portuguese poet, contemporary and sympathizer of the French Revolution but in a deeply conservative, catholic and royalist country. Like Camões, another great Portuguese poet, his fame rose not only from his considerable talent, but also by dieing just before his country got overrun by a foreign power, earning him a status of national symbol.

Not much details are known about Bocage's biography, and that's where this work of historical fiction gets interesting, presenting a version of what could have happened in the last 15 years of his life.

Although at times a gross oversimplification of the end of the 18th century reality in Portugal, the plot remains entertaining and educational enough - portraying the bohemian, cultural, political and social life of the time in Lisbon.

Unfortunately, the acting is quite bad, with Miguel Guilherme (Bocage) and Manuel João Vieira (Agostinho Macedo) possibly providing the worse performances in the series.

The locations, costumes and characterization are very good at creating a 1790s setting. Overall, an interesting series, I only wish that the acting would have been better.

For the last few years there has been a substantial improvement on the quality of Portuguese TV series. Good acting and enough historical authenticity to make historical fiction believable are the most important characteristics of these productions. Bocage tells us of the last years in the life of the most important Portuguese poet of the 18th century.

Miguel Guilherme creates a perfect character, poor, bitter and rebel. Manuel Vieira, the dirty (in more than one way) priest is absolutely great and Henrique Viana, as the Authority Pina Manique is the kind of villain you love to hate. But the best in all the series is the spirit of Bocage, his extraordinary poems filled with bitterness and cynicism, the word duels he kept having (and winning) with his rivals and his tormented life have in this series a deserved homage.

A definitive must to know life in Portugal in the 18th century but unfortunately very hard to translate.