I had never known much of Griselda. I remember her mugshot (can't forget that face if you've seen it) in the news but never really paid attention, so I came into this story rather blind. I had enjoyed Narcos, so thinking I would be into it, like a Narcos with a twist because its a woman, I settled in for a nice, comfy binge.
Vergara produced this, and from the first scene, one can plainly see it skews mightily to place Griselda in a favorable light. A desperate woman abused and scorned, alone in a strange city with 3 children to support, with extremey limited choices. If one turns off their common-sense inqusitive brain, it works. Griselda survives abuse, has no choice but to fight, stands her ground in a man's world, never gives up, fiercely loves and is generous with her old friends, always has a soft-spot for the underdogs... However once you begin to question her motives- this happened for me after she turned down the buy-out- the mask falls and Griselda is exposed for what she really is: a viscious, greedy, murderous monster. Once that happens, I had no vested interest in what happens to her, I didn't sympathize with her, I just wanted to see her arrested and locked up forever.
I did some research. This is someone who was OK with slaughtering an infant. The scene where she agonizes over murdering an eye-witness and his wife, leaving the baby alive? In real life, the 2-month old infant was killed. I don't like this kind of manipulation- intended to make you believe Griselda has a heart in there somewhere- but WHY? How is that needed to further the plot? Why fashion her into some kind of victim-hero!? She's anything but! For Vergara to manipulate the audience to feel compassion for this woman, its simply unconsionable.
The scenes depicting Griselda as some sort of Eva Peron to groups of immigrants were particularly galling. Did this actually happen? Or did really just threaten to kill their families to get them to steal like that? With this kind of "artistic license" who knows?
And finally, the prosthetics are ridiculous. Look at photos of the real Griselda. I mean, come on. I think Vergara is wearing a nose and some weird eyebrow/forehead makeup. Why? Griselda's real face was one only a mother could love so it would be far more interesting to explore how she held such power over men, because honestly, no way she captivated with her looks. She was unarguably an extremely unattractive woman with not much of a body from what I can see. Vergara plays Griselda as a sultry, buxom, gorgeous femme fatale, because well, Vergara IS a femme fatale.
So I got to episode 4, and yeah, stopping now. I see there is another film about Griselda starring..wait for it.. Catherine Zeta Jones. I think its disingenuous and frankly in poor taste to portray this horrible POS as anything other than what she was in life: an ugly, evil, amoral maniac who caused much suffering to anyone unfortunate enough to be in her orbit.
Vergara produced this, and from the first scene, one can plainly see it skews mightily to place Griselda in a favorable light. A desperate woman abused and scorned, alone in a strange city with 3 children to support, with extremey limited choices. If one turns off their common-sense inqusitive brain, it works. Griselda survives abuse, has no choice but to fight, stands her ground in a man's world, never gives up, fiercely loves and is generous with her old friends, always has a soft-spot for the underdogs... However once you begin to question her motives- this happened for me after she turned down the buy-out- the mask falls and Griselda is exposed for what she really is: a viscious, greedy, murderous monster. Once that happens, I had no vested interest in what happens to her, I didn't sympathize with her, I just wanted to see her arrested and locked up forever.
I did some research. This is someone who was OK with slaughtering an infant. The scene where she agonizes over murdering an eye-witness and his wife, leaving the baby alive? In real life, the 2-month old infant was killed. I don't like this kind of manipulation- intended to make you believe Griselda has a heart in there somewhere- but WHY? How is that needed to further the plot? Why fashion her into some kind of victim-hero!? She's anything but! For Vergara to manipulate the audience to feel compassion for this woman, its simply unconsionable.
The scenes depicting Griselda as some sort of Eva Peron to groups of immigrants were particularly galling. Did this actually happen? Or did really just threaten to kill their families to get them to steal like that? With this kind of "artistic license" who knows?
And finally, the prosthetics are ridiculous. Look at photos of the real Griselda. I mean, come on. I think Vergara is wearing a nose and some weird eyebrow/forehead makeup. Why? Griselda's real face was one only a mother could love so it would be far more interesting to explore how she held such power over men, because honestly, no way she captivated with her looks. She was unarguably an extremely unattractive woman with not much of a body from what I can see. Vergara plays Griselda as a sultry, buxom, gorgeous femme fatale, because well, Vergara IS a femme fatale.
So I got to episode 4, and yeah, stopping now. I see there is another film about Griselda starring..wait for it.. Catherine Zeta Jones. I think its disingenuous and frankly in poor taste to portray this horrible POS as anything other than what she was in life: an ugly, evil, amoral maniac who caused much suffering to anyone unfortunate enough to be in her orbit.