La Fortuna

Good acting by the three main English speaking cast, and Ana Polvorosa has her moments... But the plot is quite bad, full of clichés, cheaply nationalistic/nostalgic at times (and I'm from Spain) and, well, boring, predictable and flat, really. A waste of resources is what I think all the time while I watch.

This is my very first Spanish TV show and to be h0onest, I did not expect to enjoy it so much. The story line is brilliant and Stanley Tucci deserves an Academy or a Golden Globe.

La Fortuna is clearly based on the story of the Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes and the battle by Spain to reclaim the treasure uncovered by the American salvage company Odyssy, and it mainly follows that fairly closely. Of course it's full of fictional characters, relationships and love affairs, and they manage to throw in some silly and totally unlikely things in the final couple episodes, but it was still worth watching. Oh, and of course it's hugely biased toward Spain and very anti-American, that probably goes with the territory. And I still can't see why the salvage companies don't get to keep treasure that, without their hard work, would never be uncovered.

I have been very excited, when I have heard that Alejandro Amenábar had been working on a series. But this is an amateur hour. The main american cast is great, but they can't make the screenplay better. Holes in the plot, disappearing and reappearing of the main protagonist, dialogues from a high school play and so on. My advice: avoid this one, and watch Alejandro Amenábar movies.

"La Cultura es nuestro petróleo." Culture is our oil (meaning as a natural resource).

Written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar adapted from the graphic novel, El tesoro del Cisne Negro by Guillermo Corral and Paco Roca. This was my first graphic novel and I have to say that as a novel, it's stupid, but as the basis for a movie, it's brilliant. Amenábar must have thought he hit the lottery with this as it's like someone already story-boarded the entire series for him.

The negative reviews here seem to be from people taking offense that there are some jabs taken at the USA. I'm American, but I'm also very thick-skinned and not easily insulted. I always say the same thing, any America who thinks that they rest of the world has to think we are the greatest is being a child, and the rest of the world has to realize that as the leading power in the world, there have been much worse in history than the USA.

Back to La Fortuna. This is one of the best, if not THE best Spanish series that I have seen. It definitely has the best acting, and for good and bad acting, I always put the blame or the praise on the director. It is the director's project, so if someone gives a bad performance, that's on the director. Chapeau to Amenábar.