The Colombian crime thriller miniseries ‘Green Frontier’ (Frontera Verde) revolves around a young female detective from the country’s capital city, Bogotá named Helena Poveda (Juana del Río) who travels to the Amazonian frontier between Colombia and Brazil to investigate four femicides. Still, this mission leads her to discover the truth of her origins, which relate to secret magical aspects of the jungle. The show presents the destruction of the world’s largest rainforest through various methods. It premiered on Netflix on August 16, 2019, in a sad coincidence, the same day Amazon fires that covered in grey the Brazilian skies started.
Land invasion, Illegal logging, and the enslavement of native populations are portrayed. However, the miniseries avoids the white gaze from producers and directors by centring the effects of these different types of destruction from the perspectives of those affected most. It also touches on evangelization, prejudice, adaptation to the so-called civilized world, war among Indigenous communities, and other arduous aspects of Indigenous realities that are well represented in the series that covers decades in the region.
The problems faced by the Amazonian region mentioned above are just a few approaches in the series, showing the outcomes they have on the region and the people, the damage they are capable of causing, and how they still remain invisible to the outside world that portrays it as just paradisiac or exotic. The fires in the Amazon that are taking over the news, alongside climate change and human rights activism, help make Green Frontier part of the zeitgeist.
One of the main ways that the show subverts the patriarchal narrative through its protagonist. The audience witnesses how Detective Poveda is perceived by those around her. Del Río gives a strong performance as a law enforcement agent who has to do the right thing while dealing with a morally corrupted and sexist police force, showing how stressful, demanding, and burning this profession can be.
Through the eight-episode arc, the law agent not only unravels the investigation but goes deeper into her connection to the Amazonian forest; therefore, ‘Green Frontier’ has an interesting character arc making Poveda more than just the politically correct stereotype of the “female strong lead”.
This series isn’t just about having a strong female lead and how different she acts from others. When attacked by a once trusted character, Poveda has to fend off for herself. Although she doesn’t flinch about responding to aggressions with violence, she doesn’t in any way display pleasure in it or descend into a berserk rage.
Violence in the series comes as naturally as other acts and emotions. Nevertheless, the aftereffects linger on the characters in a more humane and straining way, especially when portrayed with facial expressions and silence. Latin America is the most violent region in the world, and in ‘Green Frontier,’ it lurks behind the trees or city corners, a feeling explored by camera angles, lighting, and soundtrack with expertise and drawing the viewer into this bleak world.
The solitude of being a cop out of her precinct and surrounded by others who cannot be trusted, feelings augmented by being a female cop, is subtly represented in the colour of the walls of Poveda’s hotel room. Although from a calming light pink pastel tone, they are coldly devoid of emotion, furthering the sense of loneliness and awkwardness experimented by the character. The worn-out paint also signals how damaging this profession can psychologically be. Such imagery contrasts with the native people who come as part of the jungle that embraces them.
Other main questions into play
Nelson Camayo, playing Detective Poveda’s local partner, Reynaldo Bueno, brings the undertones of living in both worlds: a law enforcer and an Indigenous community member in a place where many people have shady interests or are just trying to get by.
Another asset is veteran Marcela Mar (Hermana Raquel), who plays a supporting role, portraying a sweet but condescending and troubled missionary. The Indigenous couple played by Ángela Cano (Ushe), and Miguel Dionisio Ramos (Yua) gives a three-dimensional depth and layered look at Indigenous lives, lore, and society.
Throughout cinema and TV history, Indigenous characters have been portrayed in many productions, but Yua and Ushe show a side of them that they have yet to be seen. The cameras and narrative capture their nudity in a natural light. The couple also embodies how real Indigenous tribes see themselves as the guardians of nature and its knowledge and keepers of dying ways.
The war among Indigenous communities lends complexity to the Indigenous players. Although they are united by race and geography, they are different when considering culture, lore, behaviour patterns, philosophy, and ways of approaching life. ‘Green Frontier’ goes into a space rarely presented in mainstream productions, even from later Latin American productions.
In ‘Green Frontier,’ sex is an intrinsic part of people’s lives, and it is perceived by Latin American eyes, which differs from sexual observations by Anglo-Saxon creators. The sex and sensuality don’t resemble softcore pornography and hold a naturality that aggregates to the storytelling process.
Created by Diego Ramírez Schrempp, Mauricio Leiva-Cock, and Jenny Ceballos and co-directed by Ciro Guerra, Laura Mora, and Jacques Toulemonde, the cinematography is one of its main strengths which was conducted by Felipe Linares, it heightens the beauty and richness of the Amazonian flora and also the systematic depredations it suffers while portraying the small towns with a more erratic view corroborating the poverty in those areas and enhancing the storytelling aspects in an immersive manner which can be expected in a production from Guerra who helmed Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film from the 2016 ceremony ‘Embrace of the Serpent’ (2015).
‘Green Frontier’ has attractive tones of Magic Realism, a style of fiction that blends the realistic and sometimes gritty scenarios of modern life while adding magical elements, a movement tightly associated with Latin American Literature having in Colombian Nobel Prize Winner Gabriel García Márquez its most known name and gives a peculiar flavour to the show.
Magical realism applies more to Indigenous peoples than it does to city-living characters. The jungle, with its dense appearance, presents a more mysterious place than one with modern life resources, and it also brings more of the unique myths to broader audiences.
In 2018, HBO’s sci-fi series ‘Westworld’ (2016 – 2022) episode “Kiksuya” focused on Native American androids mostly spoken in Lakota, becoming a welcomed addition to TV history. More than a hidden gem in Netflix, ‘Green Frontier’ is a narrative that also adds to Indigenous TV history and exposes the complexities of the South American Indigenous situation, which would probably feel different if shot through American lenses.
Also Read: Three Pines: The Unsung Detective Series Shedding Light on Indigenous Pain
