Yesterday, here in the United States, on the cable channel Megatv, the Brazillian telenovela or soap opera “Nina Moza” or “Little Missy” had its “grand finale”. The show was about the fight for the abolition of slavery in Brazil in the 19th century. The fight is lead by a young woman known as “Nina Moza” or “Little Missy” Maria de Gracias Fereyda (Debora Falabella), whose father is the powerful plantation and slave owner, the Baron of Araruna, Jose Fereyda (Osmar Prado). Joining the fight is a young lawyer named Rodolfo Fuentes (Danton Mello) and Little Missy’s half brother Rafael (Eriberto Leao) who is a mestizo. Little Missy and Rodolfo fall in love, fall out of love, fall in love again while trying to get her father to free his slaves and while Rodolfo in disguise goes to other plantations to free the slaves; intending to leave the Baron’s plantation for the last. Rafael writes in the newspaper lots of articles against slavery and against the Baron, which cause him to clash with the old man, as do Little Missy and Rodolfo, whom she marries later. Little Missy, Rodolfo, and Rafael find supporters in their battle but are unable to break the will of the Baron. Several slaves,a slave owner, and one of the Baron’s loyal employees, a cruel foreman named Bruno, die in the course of the battle throught the soap. Little Missy and her father both become wounded, too. At the end, the Baron does finally free the slaves (just as the slaves are emanicipated in Brazil) and recognizes that Rafael is his son with the slave woman Maria Delores.
I give this novela a “B”. Storyline was pretty good; the heroic young woman Little Missy taking on her father and the other male slave owners at a time when ladies did not have a voice in politics. I really liked the costumes, especially the dresses Little Missy and the other women wore. The acting by Debra Falabella is excellent. Also fine performances by Eriberto Leao and Osmar Prado. What I didn’t like was that heroism of the hero, Little Missy’s husband, Rodolfo was sort of lacking. He started out being sort of brave and going to free slaves in secret, but then turned wimpy in the end. And the grand final yesterday did not tie up everything neatly. We don’t know what happens to a lot of the characters and we do not see what happens to the Baron’s former slaves when they get their freedom. Also, Little Missy’s mother the Baroness Candida Fereyda (Patricia Pillar) appears to end up accepting the romantic overtures of Little Missy’s young brother-in-law, the younger brother of Rodolfo, Ricardo. I found that weird and a little disturbing because here was this young man barely more than 20 years old chasing after a woman, a grandmother, possibly about 50, who was his brother’s mother-in-law! The grandmother of his own nephew. Marrying her would make him a too young grandpa! Freaky! The stuff of afternoon talk shows. I think the writers could have handled this better. The soap opera “Little Missy” for me gets a “B”. One of the better soaps I have seen, but the ending was bizarre.
