Apache: La vida de Carlos Tevez

I want to start off by mentioning that I am argentinian, a huge Boca fan and I particularly like Carlos Tévez as a person and as a player. So, all of those things naturally inclined me to eagerly watch this series. I've always thought that his life should be turned into a movie, but that would be too short, so it would work out better as a TV series. I was a bit skeptical in regards to the narrative quality and the production values of this effort but as soon as I tuned in, I was pleasantly surprised, since I was watching a high quality product. From the production design, the locations, the script, the actors and the direction, it was all phenomenal. The main cast give a stellar performance, so incredibly believable in each of their parts.

Carlos Tévez had a very rough upbringing in the dangerous streets of Fuerte Apache, one of Buenos Aires' most notorious neighbourhoods due to high crime rates, including theft, murder and drug trafficking. And he somehow managed to dodge those heavy bullets and followed his passion to play football, and specially to play for Boca, the team of his affections. I really hope we get a second season, to show his rise to stardom, and everything in between.

Kudos to Balthazar Murillo (he plays Tévez), Vanesa González (she plays Carlos' aunt, Adriana), Alberto Ajaka (Segundo; Carlos' uncle), Sofía Gala (Fabiana; Carlos' birth mother) and Matías Recalt (Danilo, Carlos' best friend), they all did a magnificent job in their respective roles.

This was so enjoyable and interesting, I could easily ignore the not so good technical aspects of the series.

Even if I'm Argentinian, I didn't know much about the football star more than where he was from. I didn't know how much of a big hearted person he is, and having to endure such a childhood and coming up after becoming such a star as a humble, caring, loving person for whom humanitarian values are the most important his family taught him, is an absolute pleasure. I even watched interviews with the player after finishing the last 4 episodes (in a row) and it's really moving to see that there's still people that only want to help everyone be happy and safe, regardless their background.

I have to trust the depiction of the neighbourhood where he grew up, as you don't really go in there if you're Argentinian, but I can trust Carlos Tevez to have given an accurate insight of it, and it's shocking (maybe not so much for an Argentinian, sadly).

I found specially interesting to see how these humble people, some more aggressive and damaged than others, hold on for their families, sometimes in the sweetest ways, but can be absolute monsters when they go out to "work" or settling issues with other inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The ones that want to live a decent, lawful life have to suffer their surroundings, but almost accept it as what's normal, rejecting the law's enforcement (which, I know, can be even more violent, sometimes).

It's heart warming to know Carlos made it through all this and he's still loved and admired by everyone. It's the pure example that integrity can be kept in the most hostile environments and it can pay up, with a little bit of luck (Tevez had it all, ultimately).

And it's heart breaking to see how many don't make it, and how much they suffer and how badly they end. In this story, Danilo is one of those, and the real story of the person who's based on is not exactly the same but equally sad (I'll add it on the trivia of this movie).

On the technical side, there could be some polish on the writing, some performances on certain intense scenes could be better, and the cinematography at moments felt a bit amateurish trying to light too much scenes that could have looked better with a natural lighting (nothing serious at all, I'm being very technical here).

The CGI used for the last scene has to be overlooked, the production obviously didn't have the budget do do better, but it really looks quite bad.

Acceptable flaws if you're up to appreciate the story of this amazing person.

Now I feel like I really admire Carlos Tevez, in his simplicity, he has so much to teach to all of us.

I am not very knowledgeable about soccer and had actually never heard of Carlos Tevez before I watched the series, but really enjoyed it. Portrays Telez' struggle to survive and succeed amidst the poverty, drugs and violence in the Fuerte Apache district of Buenos Aires. As someone familiar with Mexican Spanish, the language used in this series was full of colorful idioms and difficult to understand, but it fit the characters and setting. Great biographical story of family and community and soccer, although not that much soccer. One thing I didn't like: they kept repeating the same pan-shot of the Fuerte Apache about ten times each episode. Otherwise, yes this series has flaws but still highly recommend it.

Let me start by saying, I am Italian, I was born not far from the San Paolo Stadium in Napoli, where my greatest player of all time played...Diego Armando Maradona but I am the biggest Juventus Fan and I loved when Carlos Tévez joined us....I absolutely love him as a player.

So when I read an article about (Apache: La vida de Carlos Tevez). I could not wait to sit down and watch the grim rise of Carlos from Fuerte Apache, one of Buenos Aires's most dangerous, drug fueled neighborhoods. And Carlos through almost naive understanding of his surroundings, somehow managed to stay away from stray bullets, drugs and crime. He followed his passion to play football.

The performances are mesmerizing none more than from Balthazar Murillo, what a find, at times looking at both Carlo and Balthazar there are a lot similarities........

It is a interesting story, that has a couple of needles final 2 chapters where the story becomes a bit of a caricature.