La frontière verte

This must be the finest Colombian production since "Narcos". But unlike the "Narcos" story arc, a beam of truth and enlightenment shines through the story, characterization and cinematography. Even if at times the writing and direction falls back on familiar stereotypes and corny special effects (like a human heart beating inside an air-filled glass jar), in the aggregate, this is a brilliant telling, not of a story, but a certain truth about human beings and Mother Nature. It's not necessarily a happy or comfortable truth but one we desperately need to understand and experience. A unifying theme here is nature Goddess worship and its connection to health, longevity and happiness. Joseph Campbell and C.G. Jung would have loved this series!

But the last two episodes went off the rails. WTF happened? Did the project run out of money? Did they bring in a new director to make the series more mainstream? Was there political pushback? Was it a problem to have a series with two strong female leads? Damn.

It's definitely not a fast paced series but somehow it's intense in a subtle way. There is an intermeshing of reality and magic that fits everything together and is cool to boot. The story jumps back and forth between the two main characters timelines yet flows quite well and is easy to keep track of. It definitely has an environmental and political message but doesn't go too overboard with it. The whole story is pretty good, the actors are great especially for being unknowns, and overall it's very visually pleasing to watch. I can't give it 10 stars because there were some negatives for me and it did move too slow in some parts, but still a well done series and worth watching at least once.

Atmospheric and beautiful metaphysical thriller. Not for the action minded types, although even that is not lacking here either. You get hooked and want to see what is in the next episode immediately. Time traveling back and forth adds to the suspense. Excellent cinematography, plus all the characters are unbelievably substantial and the main woman actress is incredible. And then from Love and Rockets: "So Alive". A wonderful and fitting song, so turn up the volume. Think of the jungle forest and climate change, stay and watch.

Netflix continues to release some impressive and original television series from around the world, this one from Colombia. While the supernatural elements of this series sometimes detract from immersion in the story, and the non-linear narrative can be challenging, it is a good story, well-written and convincingly cast.