Mexico City, Mexico.- Who has not heard the reference to Isaura when it comes to complaining about an overload of tasks? The image of the white slave is so deep in the Cuban collective imagination that even the youngest who have not seen the novel understand the reference.
“The Slave Isaura” is a brazilian soap opera which was broadcast for the first time in 1976 by Cadena Globo. Written by Gilberto Braga and directed by Herval Rossano and Milton Gonçalves, this novel arrived in Cuba in the 1980s and 1940s, and is still present in the memory of the television audience.
The plot centered on the story of a mixed-race slave, but with very light skin (Lucélia Santos) who had been educated by her employer, who taught her to read, play the piano and other manners of a society girl that were unthinkable for slaves.
The young woman always received the protection of her mistress and godmother, Doña Ester, who esteemed her as a daughter but was not equally loved by her husband, Commander Almeida. Despite this, the commander had promised to write Isaura’s freedom letter as the last will of his wife; and that did. But death surprised him before he could give it to her.
This is how the beautiful girl passes into the hands of Leoncio, the son of her bosses. An extremely cruel man who was obsessed with her, to the point of having a young man, owner of neighboring lands, who also falls in love with her, be killed.
Outcome
To escape from Leoncio, Isaura runs away and assumes another identity, pretending that she was a free woman. In this way, she meets the abolitionist Alvaro, with whom she begins a relationship until she falls back into the hands of Leoncio.
The bad administration of the son of the Almeidas and his addictions led him to bankruptcy. Situation that Álvaro took advantage of to buy all his properties including Isaura, whom he finally frees and whom he marries.
The soap opera had 100 episodes broadcast and reached audience ratings never before seen, not only in Brazil but also in many countries. Even in China, it reached 450 million viewers.
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