Rosa salvaje
Encyclopedia
Rosa salvaje is a Mexican
telenovela
that was broadcast in 1987. It starred the popular Mexican
actress Verónica Castro
, who played the main character, "Rosa", co-starring with Guillermo Capetillo
as her love interest and Laura Zapata
as the villain of the story.
This telenovela was a huge success in Mexico
, Latin America
, Bulgaria
, Croatia
, Serbia
, Russia
, China
and the United States
and provided the template for numerous other Latin American soap operas in terms of story, plot twists and characters for years to come.
), is a naive, uneducated, tomboy
ish young woman, who is extremely beautiful and kind-hearted. She lives in an impoverished neighborhood of Mexico City
with her Godmother
Tomasa (Magda Guzmán), whom she calls "Manina". When Rosa was a few days old, Tomasa fled with the infant to save her from her grandfather, who wanted to kill the baby to hide the fact that his daughter, Paulette, had given birth to an illegitimate child. While Rosa is aware that her mother is a wealthy, upper-class woman, she has never met her. The uncouth and barely literate Rosa spends her days hanging out with the neighborhood boys playing marbles and soccer, and sometimes getting into physical fights because of her hot temper, even though she is now a young woman who has passed the age for such things.
Ricardo Linares (Guillermo Capetillo
) is a bachelor from a wealthy family, and twin brother of Rogelio (also played by Capetillo). The young and handsome Ricardo lives with his siblings in the family mansion while attending graduate school. His older half-sisters, Cándida and Dulcina (played by Liliana Abud
and Laura Zapata
), provide him with a monthly allowance, but Ricardo suspects that they are keeping the truth from him and Rogelio: that their father’s will stated that the family fortune be divided equally among the four siblings. Dulcina is determined that her brother Ricardo marry Leonela Villareal (Edith González
/ Felicia Mercado), a wealthy socialite, with the idea that Ricardo will be able to maintain his social and financial status with Leonela’s fortune. In this way, the sisters will be able to cut their brother off financially.
One day, the hungry and ragged Rosa, aided by her friends, climbs the fence into the yard of the Linares mansion to steal the plums from one of their trees. She is caught by Dulcina Linares and the head housekeeper, Leopoldina (Renata Flores), who threaten to call the police. Rosa is rescued by Ricardo, who befriends the impoverished Rosa and begins helping her financially. Rosa soon falls in love with Ricardo. Ricardo, tired of his sisters' pestering and determined to show them that he will marry whomever he pleases, asks Rosa to marry him. Rosa accepts and they are married right away. Ricardo likes Rosa and is attracted to her, but is not in love with her; he is so focused on upsetting his sisters that he does not stop to consider the emotional consequences of the marriage for Rosa. Dulcina, Cándida, and Leonela, aided by Leopoldina, decide to do whatever they can to break up the marriage by plotting one intrigue after another. They finally succeed a few months into the marriage, when they reveal to Rosa that Ricardo married her only to bother his family. Rosa's heart is broken and she leaves. By this time, Ricardo really has fallen in love with Rosa and begs her to return to him, but she refuses to believe him.
Rosa now tries to move on with her life and find gainful employment despite her lack of education. Out of pride, Rosa refuses to accept alimony from Ricardo, calling it "an ex-wife's salary," which she sees as an insult. At one of her jobs, she meets and befriends Ernesto, a kind young man who falls very much in love with her. Rosa, unfortunately, cannot return his love, as she has never stopped loving Ricardo.
Meanwhile, there is trouble in the Linares family. Cándida has become pregnant as a result of a secret affair with the family's business manager, Federico Robles, who has also been wooing Dulcina in order to get his hands on the Linares family fortune. When the enraged and jealous Dulcina learns of Cándida's pregnancy, she pushes Cándida down the stairs, causing her to miscarry. A short time later, Cándida begins hallucinating that her baby is in her room, not knowing that her delusions are all staged by Dulcina, who is scheming with Federico to get Cándida put in a mental institution so that the two can marry without any interference from her sister. Cándida's horrific experiences have made her realize how terribly she behaved toward Rosa, and she asks Rosa to forgive her.
At one point, Rosa and Ricardo reconcile briefly, but due to the continued intrigues of Ricardo's family, break up again and this time their divorce is finalized.
Soon after, a major twist occurs: Rosa is reunited with her long-lost mother, Paulette. Rosa now becomes extremely wealthy. Towards the end, it is also revealed that Rosa is expecting Ricardo's child (as a result of their brief reconciliation). After finding out the news, Dulcina receives another shock: the Linares family is bankrupt. Her husband, Federico (earlier murdered by Dulcina when she learned of his infidelity), had robbed the Linares family blind and left everything to his first (and in reality, only legitimate) wife. Rosa wants to purchase the Linares estate. Dulcina is unaware that Rosa is simply buying the Linares Mansion
in order to give it back to Ricardo and his family because she had never stopped loving him.
Outraged, Dulcina sends out Leonela to run Rosa down with her car. As Leonela drives off from the crime scene after hitting Rosa, she speeds away and swerves to miss another car which causes her car to get stuck on the train tracks. A train quickly approaches and Leonela is unable to get out of her car. She gets hit by the train and dies when her car explodes. Meanwhile, back at the house, Dulcina loses her mind completely after hearing about Leonela's demise. She decides to set the house on fire rather than have Rosa get it. She pours gasoline all over the house, but then the housekeeper Leopoldina, finally realizing what the crazed woman has in store for them, tells her that she doesn't want to die, but Dulcina doesn't care. In a final effort to get out, Leopoldina runs to the kitchen and gets a bottle of acid kept under the kitchen sink. She throws it in Dulcina's face, who while blinded, shoots Leopoldina to death. The police knock down the door and take her away. Dulcina is sentenced to an asylum for the criminally insane. Cándida, who is now well, visits her sister in order to forgive her, but the psychotic Dulcina, her face horribly disfigured by the lighter fluid, screams at the terrified Cándida to get out of her cell.
After the whole ordeal, the pregnant Rosa and Ricardo are rejoined in marriage and they've got his twin brother Rogelio, who is now married to Rosa's best friend, Linda, and sister Cándida standing by their side.
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
that was broadcast in 1987. It starred the popular Mexican
Mexican people
Mexican people refers to all persons from Mexico, a multiethnic country in North America, and/or who identify with the Mexican cultural and/or national identity....
actress Verónica Castro
Verónica Castro
Verónica Castro is a Mexican actress, singer and television host. She is the mother of singer Cristian Castro and filmmaker Michelle Sáinz Castro and the sister of actress Beatriz Castro,and telenovela producer José Alberto Castro....
, who played the main character, "Rosa", co-starring with Guillermo Capetillo
Guillermo Capetillo
Guillermo Capetillo is a Mexican actor, singer and matador and bullfighter. He is a member of the Capetillo family. His father and his brother, actor Manuel Capetillo, Jr. are also matadors, his half-brother Eduardo Capetillo is a singer and actor...
as her love interest and Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata is a Mexican telenovela actress. She has acted in Televisa productions most of her life.- Family :...
as the villain of the story.
This telenovela was a huge success in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and provided the template for numerous other Latin American soap operas in terms of story, plot twists and characters for years to come.
Plot
Rosa Garcia (Verónica CastroVerónica Castro
Verónica Castro is a Mexican actress, singer and television host. She is the mother of singer Cristian Castro and filmmaker Michelle Sáinz Castro and the sister of actress Beatriz Castro,and telenovela producer José Alberto Castro....
), is a naive, uneducated, tomboy
Tomboy
A tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
ish young woman, who is extremely beautiful and kind-hearted. She lives in an impoverished neighborhood of Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
with her Godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
Tomasa (Magda Guzmán), whom she calls "Manina". When Rosa was a few days old, Tomasa fled with the infant to save her from her grandfather, who wanted to kill the baby to hide the fact that his daughter, Paulette, had given birth to an illegitimate child. While Rosa is aware that her mother is a wealthy, upper-class woman, she has never met her. The uncouth and barely literate Rosa spends her days hanging out with the neighborhood boys playing marbles and soccer, and sometimes getting into physical fights because of her hot temper, even though she is now a young woman who has passed the age for such things.
Ricardo Linares (Guillermo Capetillo
Guillermo Capetillo
Guillermo Capetillo is a Mexican actor, singer and matador and bullfighter. He is a member of the Capetillo family. His father and his brother, actor Manuel Capetillo, Jr. are also matadors, his half-brother Eduardo Capetillo is a singer and actor...
) is a bachelor from a wealthy family, and twin brother of Rogelio (also played by Capetillo). The young and handsome Ricardo lives with his siblings in the family mansion while attending graduate school. His older half-sisters, Cándida and Dulcina (played by Liliana Abud
Liliana Abud
Liliana Abud is an actress in telenovelas and Mexican cinema. She is also a screenwriter of telenovelas.- Biography :Liliana Abud wa born on July 5. She is married to Alfonso Rendon and has two children, Alfonso and Paula....
and Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata
Laura Zapata is a Mexican telenovela actress. She has acted in Televisa productions most of her life.- Family :...
), provide him with a monthly allowance, but Ricardo suspects that they are keeping the truth from him and Rogelio: that their father’s will stated that the family fortune be divided equally among the four siblings. Dulcina is determined that her brother Ricardo marry Leonela Villareal (Edith González
Edith González
Edith González Fuentes is a Mexican actress and dancer.- Personal life :González has a daughter, Constanza , whose father is the Mexican politician Santiago Creel. Edith has worked for hispanic television networks, such as, Televisa, Telemundo, and TV Azteca...
/ Felicia Mercado), a wealthy socialite, with the idea that Ricardo will be able to maintain his social and financial status with Leonela’s fortune. In this way, the sisters will be able to cut their brother off financially.
One day, the hungry and ragged Rosa, aided by her friends, climbs the fence into the yard of the Linares mansion to steal the plums from one of their trees. She is caught by Dulcina Linares and the head housekeeper, Leopoldina (Renata Flores), who threaten to call the police. Rosa is rescued by Ricardo, who befriends the impoverished Rosa and begins helping her financially. Rosa soon falls in love with Ricardo. Ricardo, tired of his sisters' pestering and determined to show them that he will marry whomever he pleases, asks Rosa to marry him. Rosa accepts and they are married right away. Ricardo likes Rosa and is attracted to her, but is not in love with her; he is so focused on upsetting his sisters that he does not stop to consider the emotional consequences of the marriage for Rosa. Dulcina, Cándida, and Leonela, aided by Leopoldina, decide to do whatever they can to break up the marriage by plotting one intrigue after another. They finally succeed a few months into the marriage, when they reveal to Rosa that Ricardo married her only to bother his family. Rosa's heart is broken and she leaves. By this time, Ricardo really has fallen in love with Rosa and begs her to return to him, but she refuses to believe him.
Rosa now tries to move on with her life and find gainful employment despite her lack of education. Out of pride, Rosa refuses to accept alimony from Ricardo, calling it "an ex-wife's salary," which she sees as an insult. At one of her jobs, she meets and befriends Ernesto, a kind young man who falls very much in love with her. Rosa, unfortunately, cannot return his love, as she has never stopped loving Ricardo.
Meanwhile, there is trouble in the Linares family. Cándida has become pregnant as a result of a secret affair with the family's business manager, Federico Robles, who has also been wooing Dulcina in order to get his hands on the Linares family fortune. When the enraged and jealous Dulcina learns of Cándida's pregnancy, she pushes Cándida down the stairs, causing her to miscarry. A short time later, Cándida begins hallucinating that her baby is in her room, not knowing that her delusions are all staged by Dulcina, who is scheming with Federico to get Cándida put in a mental institution so that the two can marry without any interference from her sister. Cándida's horrific experiences have made her realize how terribly she behaved toward Rosa, and she asks Rosa to forgive her.
At one point, Rosa and Ricardo reconcile briefly, but due to the continued intrigues of Ricardo's family, break up again and this time their divorce is finalized.
Soon after, a major twist occurs: Rosa is reunited with her long-lost mother, Paulette. Rosa now becomes extremely wealthy. Towards the end, it is also revealed that Rosa is expecting Ricardo's child (as a result of their brief reconciliation). After finding out the news, Dulcina receives another shock: the Linares family is bankrupt. Her husband, Federico (earlier murdered by Dulcina when she learned of his infidelity), had robbed the Linares family blind and left everything to his first (and in reality, only legitimate) wife. Rosa wants to purchase the Linares estate. Dulcina is unaware that Rosa is simply buying the Linares Mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
in order to give it back to Ricardo and his family because she had never stopped loving him.
Outraged, Dulcina sends out Leonela to run Rosa down with her car. As Leonela drives off from the crime scene after hitting Rosa, she speeds away and swerves to miss another car which causes her car to get stuck on the train tracks. A train quickly approaches and Leonela is unable to get out of her car. She gets hit by the train and dies when her car explodes. Meanwhile, back at the house, Dulcina loses her mind completely after hearing about Leonela's demise. She decides to set the house on fire rather than have Rosa get it. She pours gasoline all over the house, but then the housekeeper Leopoldina, finally realizing what the crazed woman has in store for them, tells her that she doesn't want to die, but Dulcina doesn't care. In a final effort to get out, Leopoldina runs to the kitchen and gets a bottle of acid kept under the kitchen sink. She throws it in Dulcina's face, who while blinded, shoots Leopoldina to death. The police knock down the door and take her away. Dulcina is sentenced to an asylum for the criminally insane. Cándida, who is now well, visits her sister in order to forgive her, but the psychotic Dulcina, her face horribly disfigured by the lighter fluid, screams at the terrified Cándida to get out of her cell.
After the whole ordeal, the pregnant Rosa and Ricardo are rejoined in marriage and they've got his twin brother Rogelio, who is now married to Rosa's best friend, Linda, and sister Cándida standing by their side.
Cast
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External links
- Rosa Salvaje on Alma Latina.
- Russian telenovela site (in English).