Soap operas bring Chavez revolution to small screen

CARACAS, Venezuela – Lights, camera and… revolution.

Venezuela’s state television channel, the broadcast cheerleader of President Hugo Chavez, is airing a new soap opera that producers say better reflects life under the left-wing former army officer than shows on the country’s private networks. Opposition critics have panned ‘Amores de Barrio Dentro’ or ‘Love Inside the Barrio’ as crude, pro-Chavez propaganda ahead of a August 15 recall referendum on the president’s rule.Producers say the drama about love and life in a poor neighbourhood presents an alternative to broadcasts by private stations that Chavez has attacked for their relentless criticism of his self-proclaimed revolution.”People are keen to see other things,” said the drama’s director, Roman Chalbaud, a noted local film maker.”The American Civil War was the setting for the love between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler – what happens politically influences people for better or worse,” he said.The show, which was shown first at the end of last month, airs every Wednesday and is expected to run for a year.The state-sponsored programme faces tough competition in a country obsessed with slick commercial soap operas that feature flawless beauties in tales of love, sex and betrayal.’Love Inside the Barrio’ has as its backdrop the turmoil that has rattled the world’s fifth largest oil exporter for more than two years including a coup, street protests and a strike that brought its oil industry to a standstill.The show centres on the relationship between a young woman Chavez supporter who lives in a working-class barrio and a male journalist whose father hates Chavez.It opens in 2001 as the opposition begins a brief strike to try to force the president from office.In an odd blend of politics and passion, the two lead characters share a kiss amid swirling tear gas as police battle protesters and the male star is wounded in the head.”The problem with revolutions is that when they try to sell themselves they do it in a crude and wooden way,” said Leonardo Padron, a Chavez foe and writer of the country’s most popular commercial drama ‘Cosita Rica’ (Sweet Thing).”What you see here is an hour of propaganda or political proselytising,” he said.MEDIA WAR AS SHOWBIZThe sharp political divide over Chavez plays out daily on the nation’s television screens.Private channels reflect the opposition view of Chavez as a tyrant whose social policies have failed to combat widespread poverty.The state channel boasts of his success and his battle as a regional voice standing up to the powers in Washington.International media watchdogs have blamed Chavez for inciting violence against local journalists with his fiery rhetoric.He likens the Venezuela’s major channels to the four horseman of the apocalypse and blames them for backing a brief April 2002 coup.Producers say the new drama illustrates events those private channels failed to cover, such as anti-government bosses punishing workers for refusing to take part in strikes and opposition protesters forcing businesses to close down.The new drama leans clearly in favour of Chavez and the show’s producers do not hide their political sympathies.At the premier attended by Venezuela’s vice president, director Chalbaud urged the audience to give Chavez their vote.In one episode, radical opposition supporters prepared Molotov cocktails and an old woman was driven to near insanity by frenzied anti-government broadcasts.The show uses news clips of real events.”It’s a creative alternative to show Venezuela’s reality and show the atrocities and abuses committed by the opposition,” said Tarek William Saab, a pro-Chavez congressman who plays himself in a brief cameo.Padron’s ‘Sweet Thing’ has its share of controversial characters – a blunt-speaking businessman with mannerisms resembling those of Chavez and another who is based unmistakably on Lina Ron, a radical supporter of the president.’Sweet Thing’, shown on private station Venevision, caused a stir earlier this year when it re-created anti-Chavez protests.The show aired shortly after a week of violent demonstrations in favour of a recall vote.Seeing tyres burning in the streets of a rich neighbourhood, some local residents feared a repeat of the violence that killed at least nine people in five days of clashes between troops and protesters.”My intention was to create a soap opera that didn’t escape the realities of the country,” Padron said.”Venezuela is living the most important moments in its modern history.”- Nampa-ReutersOpposition critics have panned ‘Amores de Barrio Dentro’ or ‘Love Inside the Barrio’ as crude, pro-Chavez propaganda ahead of a August 15 recall referendum on the president’s rule.Producers say the drama about love and life in a poor neighbourhood presents an alternative to broadcasts by private stations that Chavez has attacked for their relentless criticism of his self-proclaimed revolution.”People are keen to see other things,” said the drama’s director, Roman Chalbaud, a noted local film maker.”The American Civil War was the setting for the love between Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler – what happens politically influences people for better or worse,” he said.The show, which was shown first at the end of last month, airs every Wednesday and is expected to run for a year.The state-sponsored programme faces tough competition in a country obsessed with slick commercial soap operas that feature flawless beauties in tales of love, sex and betrayal.’Love Inside the Barrio’ has as its backdrop the turmoil that has rattled the world’s fifth largest oil exporter for more than two years including a coup, street protests and a strike that brought its oil industry to a standstill.The show centres on the relationship between a young woman Chavez supporter who lives in a working-class barrio and a male journalist whose father hates Chavez.It opens in 2001 as the opposition begins a brief strike to try to force the president from office.In an odd blend of politics and passion, the two lead characters share a kiss amid swirling tear gas as police battle protesters and the male star is wounded in the head.”The problem with revolutions is that when they try to sell themselves they do it in a crude and wooden way,” said Leonardo Padron, a Chavez foe and writer of the country’s most popular commercial drama ‘Cosita Rica’ (Sweet Thing).”What you see here is an hour of propaganda or political proselytising,” he said.MEDIA WAR AS SHOWBIZThe sharp political divide over Chavez plays out daily on the nation’s television screens.Private channels reflect the opposition view of Chavez as a tyrant whose social policies have failed to combat widespread poverty.The state channel boasts of his success and his battle as a regional voice standing up to the powers in Washington.International media watchdogs have blamed Chavez for inciting violence against local journalists with his fiery rhetoric.He likens the Venezuela’s major channels to the four horseman of the apocalypse and blames them for backing a brief April 2002 coup.Producers say the new drama illustrates events those private channels failed to cover, such as anti-government bosses punishing workers for refusing to take part in strikes and opposition protesters forcing businesses to close down.The new drama leans clearly in favour of Chavez and the show’s producers do not hide their political sympathies.At the premier attended by Venezuela’s vice president, director Chalbaud urged the audience to give Chavez their vote.In one episode, radical opposition supporters prepared Molotov cocktails and an old woman was driven to near insanity by frenzied anti-government broadcasts.The show uses news clips of real events.”It’s a creative alternative to show Venezuela’s reality and show the atrocities and abuses committed by the opposition,” said Tarek William Saab, a pro-Chavez congressman who plays himself in a brief cameo.Padron’s ‘Sweet Thing’ has its share of controversial characters – a blunt-speaking businessman with mannerisms resembling those of Chavez and another who is based unmistakably on Lina Ron, a radical supporter of the president.’Sweet Thing’, shown on private station Venevision, caused a stir earlier this year when it re-created anti-Chavez protests.The show aired shortly after a week of violent demonstrations in favour of a recall vote.Seeing tyres burning in the streets of a rich neighbourhood, some local residents feared a repeat of the violence that killed at least nine people in five days of clashes between troops and protesters.”My intention was to create a soap opera that didn’t escape the realities of the country,” Padron said.”Venezuela is living the most important moments in its modern history.”- Nampa-Reuters