La Sonn

Snippets of medical industry propaganda insert themselves into the series, making one wonder if this was a condition for funding. Somehow the writers manage to sabotage this in subtle ways. The doctor-traveler character of Marcy Warton declares the modality of reflexology nonsense, then proceeds to use 'tapping' techniques for trauma healing -- techniques which happen to based on the reflexology system of meridian points. Then there is a part where she says that people are stupid for thinking that there are nutritional benefits to raw egg mixed in smoothies or drinks, because of the potential for salmonella poising, then proceeds to crack eggs sloppily, mixing and contaminating the egg yolks with eggshells that have the very bacteria she was cautioning against. Her character is glamorized with the 'smart professional woman who can't cook' stereotype, and yet this glamorization is undermined by her ignorance of the simple chemistry of boiling pasta. All in all, an engaging series.

The movie deserves ten stars for casting strong actors, male and female, each beautifully photographed, and carrying a hundred stories of its own. Most unforgettable was the Korean-Japanese actor Tsuyoshi Ihara, whose character's sense of honour was unfortunately fated to be on the wrong side of history. It was great to see Māori actor Cliff Curtis' face in warrior mode, almost preparing one for a haka moment. Story-wise, there is potential for more and deeper development, but some strong scenes and the strategic siege of the fort offer substance amid the deficiencies.

Shockingly racist. In spite of Bolivar giving enormous, if not main, credit to Haiti and its first president, Alexandre Pétion, for his success -- [“Should I not let it be known to later generations that Alexander Petion is the true liberator of my country?" and in a letter to Petion: “ . . . I must declare that you are the author of our liberty.”], Petion is not mentioned anywhere in the series, nor is Haiti revealed to have been called by Bolivar “the only free republic in the new world", on whose constitution he modeled the Venezeluan one. Bolivar's arrival in Haiti is pivotal, for it was Petion who made it possible for Bolivar to get out of poverty in the Carribean with full support that included ships, a printing press, hundreds of Haitain soldiers and sailors, military strategists and ammunition. Bolivar was in Haiti to garner support, not only once, but twice. Instead, the series shamelessly leads us to believe that the meager support of an Englishman he meets in Jamaica and a 'Haitian trader' helped Bolivar get back to Venezuela. Trying to make up for this racist erasure of Haiti's important influence in Bolivar's military and political successes by incidental references to the racial issue and the depiction of intimate relationships between Bolivar and his black slaves is dishonest and 'white' self-serving. Haiti as the haven of American and European revolutionaries of the 19th century was a more relevant and stimulating place for Bolivar's development than Paris. But kudos for a production that makes us think about history and how the colonization of historical narratives continues.