‘Pasión de gavilanes’, two decades of television phenomenon that returns recharged

“Who is that man who looks at me and undresses me?” That phrase has probably already begun to sound like a song in the heads of many of the people who have seen Passion of Hawksone of the most successful telenovelas in Latin America, even among those who have never gone through its 188 episodes identify that chorus of a soap opera considered one of the most sustained popular phenomena over time on recent television.

19 years later, the drama of the three Elizondo sisters (Danna Garcia, Paola Rey and Natasha Klauss) and the three Reyes brothers (Mario Cimarro, Juan Alfonso Baptista and Michael Brown) returns with a new season. This Monday the Reyes-Elizondos return to Telemundo with their stories of revenge and love, their popular music, horses and half-discovered torsos of their protagonists that marked an era. His arrival in Spain will be this Wednesday, February 16, through Telecinco. Although they never really left. Passion of Hawks premiered in October 2003, written by Julio Jiménez and based on the still watersa Colombian novel of his authorship and during the hardest months of the pandemic, was one of the most revisited soap operas on Netflix.

“Now that we are saturated with violent stories or drug trafficking and with portraying reality so much, it is a great moment for the return,” its director Rodrigo Triana tells EL PAÍS. “It’s not that it’s wrong to do those kinds of stories,” he clarifies, but he believes that the success of the novel – which also changed his professional life – is that the public needs a story of love and universal intrigue and Well written.

Something similar said the actor Mario Cimarro, in an interview with The viewer, from Colombia: “The story has the peculiarity of highlighting universal values, such as honor, honesty, family unity, unconditional love; It is told, directed and acted in a fresh, fluid way, whether in the dramatic, action or comedy parts, highlighting naturalness as a constant element”.

Although the years do not seem to have made a dent in its protagonists, it is inevitable that their stories show them more adults, in any case almost 20 years have passed. Therefore, the new season focuses on a secret that involves several of his children and family loyalty. And not only does it bring back the three already known sparrowhawks but also the new generation of sparrowhawks. The essence, as Zharik León, another of its protagonists, has advanced, is that “the family runs in the blood”.

cowboy vibe

Another novelty is that it was recorded entirely in Villa de Leyva, a heritage town in central Colombia, where they always dreamed of doing it. “Technically there is a different quality, with a more current cinematography, with cameras that today allow blurring, more depth,” explains Triana.

What does remain is that rural, cowboy atmosphere that identifies the novel. That, adds the director, is another reason why this soap opera has been so well received for so many years. “The world of the countryside is something that we Latin Americans understand very well, it is present in the gauchos of Patagonia (Argentina), in the llaneros of Venezuela or the Mexican ranchers. It has that western style that has marked cinematography so much.”

But the novel was a success beyond Latin American borders. In addition to Spain, where it could be seen on Antena 3 and was a mass phenomenon, the novel caused a furor in Serbia, Bulgaria, Poland and China.

Popular music, which is maintained in the new season through the children, was another of the ingredients of success. “She was just another character”, the actress Paola Rey has also explained at different times. “It is a timeless novel that can be seen perfectly now and you reconnect, because the important thing is the characters with their stories,” she told the Colprensa agency in 2020. In fact the song Restless beast, by Rocío Montes and performed by Zharik León, dressed in a sensual cowgirl outfit singing “who is that man?” it became a seal of the telenovela that remains in force.

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