-Brian Mendonca
Watching the serial
La Venganza de las Juanas is a good way to learn about Mexico. The action is set in Mexico and many places crop up as the story (or stories) move(s) forward. There is Monterrey, Cuernavaca, Chihuahua, and Cancun in the Yucatan province. Tenerife and the Canary Islands also figure. The places roll of the tongues of the characters as they speak rapidly in Spanish. I switched to the original Spanish with translation in English after E5.
The five Juanas are named after five people who had the same name. Juana Caridade, for example, was named after Joan of Arc. Juana Valentina is named after the seventeenth-century Mexican writer Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648-95) whose works Valentina claims to have read. All the Juanas are searching for their destiny. Their varied lives are woven together by one curious secret which they share.
As they bond together in unravelling their past, they give us a glimpse into their own lives. Manney works in a night club; Valentina is a reporter; Bautista, the clairvoyant from Yucatan does readings for clients; Matilde, from Columbia, wants to make it big as a singer, and Caridade needs to decide if she is made for the habit.
Their encounters with men are often violent or degrading. Which is why Manny seeks kinship in Isabel. She tells Camilo, 'No one has called me beautiful before.' Both of them struggle to find their footing in their relationship. 'Have I lost you?' she asks him. Camilo replies, 'I am the only one who is lost here.'
The entire story is predicated on a syndicate controlled by ruthless men. Love is always elusive. But the journey from affection to love is truly moving. It is only in the last episode that the loose ends are tied up. The anguish of Frederico is finally resolved much to his satisfaction (and that of the viewers).
The plot is racy, shifting from the vicissitudes of one character to the next in quick succession. The motives are hard to ascertain. The cinematography is slick and the drone camera footage of Mexico city quite breathtaking. At certain points the Mexican flag rises in the foreground as it towers over the city as night. The serial works on flashbacks in b/w. Each episode is recalled they way it happened. And all the incidents are traced to one man. The use of mirrors in many shots provides depth. It suggests shards of an unknown identity.
Music always plays in the background for the various scenes. It adds texture to an already tense moment. 'We live or die / On the edge of a lie,' goes a line.
Life is a jigsaw puzzle, so Rogelio would have us believe. 'What is the worst thing one can do to a jigsaw enthusiast? ' one of the girls asks. 'To leave it unfinished,' is the reply. Even till the last shot of the serial in E18 the director is true to this spirit. One chair at the banquet table is left empty.
---------------------------
La Venganza de las Juanas [The Revenge of the Juanas] S1 E1-18. Netflix 2021. Pic courtesy elperiodicodemonagas. Updated 2 Dec. 2021.
Comments