Glória

I admit that before seeing "Glória" I didn't have great expectations. The relationship with Portuguese cinema has not been easy and it is difficult to point out a title that made me change that relationship. But I've already made a post about these causes and it's not worth repeating now. Hence, when I learned that the first Portuguese series launched by Netflix in co-production with SPI and RTP was going to be produced, I didn't even give it much importance. However, the series debuted and what a satisfaction to have to "handle the paddle" because "Glória" of 2021 is nothing behind so many others that I've seen on Netflix. Including North Americans. Which doesn't imply that it's one of the best either, but it's precisely in the middle. The production and interpretation is at the level of the best that is done nowadays. The recreation of the time is very well done. And despite the recurrent trauma of the Colonial War being present again, the narrative and argument are very well structured. Seriously, I was surprised and finally, of the Portuguese series that I had the opportunity to see, this one created by Pedro Lopes is probably the most successful. A little in the same line of quality as the 2019 movie "A Herdade" he was also directed by Tiago Guedes, as well as this surprising "Glória".

This first Portuguese Netflix series is a very clever production effort, with a decent casting and a good cinematography.

However, there are several things that could have contributed for a better final product:

• The script is not as bad as some users have written here, but there is a lot of room form improvement it that department..

• The lack of accuracy or basic common sense in ever scene featuring uniforms and ranks;

• João Vidal was an army officer in the war in Angola but he is always depicted as a foot soldiers.

• The scenes with the GNR (wrongly subtitled as military police) are pathetic to the point where you have a foot soldier issuing orders to a 1st Sargent in the prison escape scene.

• Even the way how the army solders and GNR troopers carry their G3 rifles is wrong!

• Not to mention the GNR's uniforms.. oh man!

-A simple technical advisor could have done magic for the accuracy of all those visual and historical details.

Anyway, having said that, I liked the show. I am Portuguese and I am proud and happy to see my country honestly trying to step up and create a decent TV series. The aforementioned details are just that; details that could have been handled properly.

Finally, it's really sad to see how some of my Portuguese brothers and sisters come just to mock and demean when if fact we should all be at least a bit proud.

Excellent writing, directing, acting, cinematography and production design AND sound which is rather rare nowadays.

As others mentioned it before, the atmosphere and aesthetic of the time are masterfully captured and portrayed. Very solid acting - great to watch and follow all characters. Even the smallest roles deliver and add greatly to the overall picture.

Highly recommended. Also, if one searches a bit one can find lots of information on the net about the history of this facility, obviously run by the CIA with the usual obscure objectives.

Gloria is a slow burning espionage tv show which takes place in Portugal during the 1960's. By then it was still ruled by a fascist dictatorship and was mainly a county with a very outdated culture, a society where amongst the poorer people women had no liberty and even on higher society stratuses we could witness something similar . The story shows much of that culture and time, but it's also a very good espionage story , with crime, suspense, intrigue and some action.

Acting is appropriate, I wouldn't say it's superb , but it doesn't fall below par ... and the story is very engaging, I found myself very curious on knowing what would happen next . Yes, it's a bit on the slower pace but that's perfectly fine for me, a person who loved the slow paced True Detective show.

Gloria deserves some praise because it comes from a country of a very old movie culture which unfortunately was dominated by tedious and ethereal films during some decades . I hope this is the first of many Portuguese tv shows in Netflix because it doesn't fall short in any department when compared with similar shows from other countries .

The show is good. Quite a surprise for me actually.

No, it's not perfect, the American actors seem to not know what they are saying when speaking Portuguese, some actors have a very stiff face and don't give off any facial expression and some lines are delivered in a strange/rushed way, the English parts of the script seem to have been directly translated from Portuguese at times, creating odd expressions, the soundtrack is incredibly repetitive and all over the place (definitely the weakest spot of the whole thing) and the first episode was confusing, which, to be fair, the exposition for such a branched plot was never going to be easy.

The story, though, that is what ultimately matters and it is a good one. It has good character developments, interesting side plots that let the viewer feel what it was like to live at that time in Portugal and interesting/unpredictable plot twists. The cinematography, costume/production design and grading were also on point.

Ultimately it was an enjoyable time. The flaws, while there, did not distract completely from the main story which has still room to grow on a second season.

P. S. Please ignore any comparison of this show with Portuguese Soap Operas, the actors are the same, yes, and they did bring some of that background but, apart from that, the show is nothing like soap operas.