Rosa Salvaje

Infobox Film
name = Rosa Salvaje

year = 1987
language = Spanish
network = Televisa
country = Mexico
cast = Verónica Castro,
Guillermo Capetillo
Laura Zapata
writer = Dolores Ortega
Vivian Pestalozzi
script = Gabriela Ortigoza
Carlos Romero
theme_song = "Rosa salvaje"
performer = Verónica Castro
music = José Antonio 'Potro' Farías
cinematographer = Ernesto Arreola
director = Beatriz Sheridan
producer = Valentín Pimstein
episodes = 199

Rosa salvaje ("Wild Rose" or "Wild Rosa") is a Mexican telenovela that was broadcast in 1987. It starred the popular Mexican actress Verónica Castro, who played the main character, "Rosa", co-starring with Guillermo Capetillo as her love interest and Laura Zapata as the villain of the story.

This telenovela was a huge success in Mexico, Latin America, Bulgaria, Serbia, Russia, China and the United States and provided the template for numerous other Latin American soap operas in terms of story, plot twists and characters for years to come.

Plot

Rosa Garcia (Verónica Castro), a naive tomboy lives with her Godmother Manina (Magda Guzmán) in an impoverished neighborhood of Mexico City. Ricardo Linares is a rich bachelor who is often pestered by his (single) sisters Cándida and Dulcina Linares, (played by Liliana Abud and Laura Zapata) about getting married so then he decides to marry the first girl he encounters in order to provoke his sisters. One day Rosa goes out to hang out with the other kids from the neighborhood, when she decides to take some plums from a large plum tree which happens to grow in the garden of a gigantic mansion. It is here that she has her first encounter with Ricardo Linares (Guillermo Capetillo). Ricardo's sisters want to call the police, but Ricardo feels sorry for the poor girl and shows mercy by deciding not to report her to the police and allows her to keep the plums instead. Soon they fall in love with each other and Ricardo asks for her hand in marriage. Ricardo's sisters, who had expected Ricardo to marry socialite Leonela Villarreal (Edith González/ Felicia Mercado), decide to do whatever they can to break up the relationship and marriage by plotting one intrigue after another.

As the telenovela progresses, the intrigues of Dulcina bonding with Leonela and the scheming housekeeper Leopoldina (Renata Flores) worsen. Ricardo's other sister, Cándida slowly stops pestering Rosa, herself becoming the next victim of her sister Dulcina, who starts an affair with Cándida's lascivious lover and later on sees her sister as a threat to her fortune. At one point, Dulcina, in a jealous rage, throws the pregnant Cándida off the stairs in order for her to miscarry. Still obsessed with getting rid of her sister, Dulcina tries to have Cándida admitted into a psychiatric home, with the help of Leopoldina, who mixes poison in her fruit juice. As Ricardo had wanted to marry Rosa instead of Leonela, Dulcina needs to ensure her position in the house, she didn't want a poor girl from the slums inheriting all of the Linares family's wealth. With no chance of Ricardo changing his mind, Leonela goes along with Dulcina in their final effort to evict Rosa from the house. They succeed by revealing to Rosa that Ricardo married her only to bother his family. Rosa's heart is broken and she leaves.

Soon after, a major twist is revealed: Rosa finds out that she is the daughter of an extremely wealthy woman who was forced to give her up many years ago. Re-united with her mother, Rosa becomes extremely wealthy. Towards the end, it is also revealed that Rosa is expecting Ricardo's child. After finding out the news, Dulcina receives another shock: the Linares family is bankrupt and Rosa wants to purchase their estate. Dulcina is unaware that Rosa is simply buying the Linares Mansion in order to give it back to Ricardo and his family because she had never stopped loving him.

Outraged, Dulcina sends out Leonela to run Rosa over on her way to the hospital for a routine check-up. As Leonela drives off from the crime scene after hitting Rosa, she is completely blinded by hatred and due to her carelessness ends up with her car stuck on train tracks. A train is quickly approaching and Leonela is unable to get out of her car. She gets hit by the train and dies when her car explodes. Meanwhile, back at the house, Dulcina loses her mind completely after hearing about Leonela's demise. She decides to set the house on fire rather than have Rosa get it. She pours gasoline all over the hallway, stairs, kitchen, but then the housekeeper Leopoldina, finally realizing what the crazed woman has in store for them, tells her that she doesn't want to die, but Dulcina doen't care. In a final effort to get out, Leopoldina runs to the kitchen and gets a bottle of acid kept under the kitchen sink. She throws it in Dulcina's face, who while blinded, shoots Leopoldina to death. The police knock down the door and take her away. Dulcina is sentenced to an asylum for the criminally insane. Cándida visits her sister in order to forgive her, but the psychotic Dulcina, her face horribly disfigured by the lighter fluid, screams at the terrified Cándida to get out of her cell.

After the whole ordeal, the pregnant Rosa and Ricardo are joined in marriage and they've got his twin brother Rogelio, who had expressed feelings towards Rosa at the beginning but is now married to Rosa's best friend, and sister Cándida standing by their side.

Cast

* Verónica Castro as Rosa * Guillermo Capetillo as Ricardo / Rogelio Linares * Laura Zapata as Dulcina Linares * Liliana Abud as Cándida Linares * Armando Calvo as Sebastián * Edith González/Felicia Mercado as Leonela Villarreal * Magda Guzmán as Tomasa * Otto Sirgo as Ángel de la Huerta * Jaime Garza as Ernesto Rojas * Bárbara Gil as Amalia * Maleni Morales as Miriam Savedo * Armando Palomo as Muñeco * Arturo García Tenorio as Agustín * Gustavo Rojo as Padre Manuel de la Huerta * Renata as Leopoldina * Ari Telch as Jorge * Gastón Tuset as Roque * Irma Lozano as Paulette

Theme song

* "The theme songs is "Rosa Salvaje" sung by (Verónica Castro)

External links

*imdb title|0211858|name="Rosa Salvaje"
* [http://www.alma-latina.net/RosaSalvaje/RosaSalvaje.shtml "Rosa Salvaje"] on "Alma Latina".
* [http://www.serials.ru/main/en/rosa_salvaje.html Russian telenovela site] (in English).