Oro

That's not the first French adventure drama that takes place in Guyana and speaks about gold searchers. The one I remind the most was 600 kg D'OR PUR, starring Clovis Cornillac. The overall scheme was not exactly the same, although the settings were similar. This one, as a TV show, lets more room to develop characters and situations. The story itself is not so exciting as the characters. Good characters study, with some awesome performances such as the Louis's one. Terrific as a gruesome cold blooded killer and very poignant in the same time, ambivalent at the most, as I love. His relationship with his boss's daughter - played by Olivier Rabourdin - is very, very interesting. And the scene between the two women, the Olivier Rabourdin's character's mistress (lover) and wife is unforgettable; those two women talking very peacefully about their man...Very unusual...The main lead, the young geologist, is weak, sometimes annoying, so predictable, common, lousy, but that's my own opinion. The actor is perfect, only his character is flat. That's not the same. He could have a very interesting character and his play very corny... I repeat, the Louis's role is awesome, with powerful scenes with him, as a ruthless and brutal henchman. Olivier Rabourdin had a very close role to this series in the movie WULU, which took place in Africa and where he was a drug traffic kingpin.

Some lines in this TV show reminded me several novels from Auguste Le Breton, crime adventure stories, especially the characters study and their place in the story.

A cast of characters that are murderous cutthroats or prostitutes with no respect for anything other than money (gold) results in a drama that fails to deliver any real entertainment value. It could of been good, episode 1 promised such but the vile implied sexual abuse scene in episode 2 had me switching it off.

Don't miss it. great outdoors locations. mix af drama,action,thrill watch in French wt subs. cheers.

Good balance. good cast. great locations. mix of action,drama,thrill,. very recommended

Despite being a department of France, its clear that Guyane is terribly neglected, if this series is anything to go by. Even the capital looks run down and seedy and it's clear that there is grinding poverty more akin to that of a third world country. In this atmosphere, corruption flourishes. Neighbouring Suriname is portrayed as being even worse with the added disadvantage of being populated by a bunch of "crazies".

This is the backdrop to this story of a tale of illegal gold mining and the people involved in the trade. Life is cheap in the jungle for the criminal gangs who operate there enriching themselves to the detriment of the remaining indigenous people and of the environment.

Alongside the horrors of the mines, there are some human interest stories but not all are as believable as the scenes dealing with the extraction of the gold. I didn't believe that Claudio would have an affair with the person he did. I didn't warm to Serra's dual "marriage". Anita and Vincent was hard to swallow.

There were a couple of times when Vincent, in particular, acted in such a stupid way leading to disasters that I tutted with annoyance. And I didn't believe for a second the effect of the final gunshot of season two. That was completely out of character.

Despite all this, the two seasons were eminently watchable and I only took four days to see the lot. Overall, I'd recommend this.