User Reviews

"La Niña" is a compelling story about a girl in Colombia that was kidnapped and forced to join the guerrillas. It is a Nextflix Original Spanish language series.

With 88 episodes, it really feels like four quality seasons of an American television show. Watching over the course of a few months, the show is very satisfying at its worse, and beautifully interesting at its best.

The cast brings more than talent, and this show features an ensemble cast that clearly placed their hearts into their work. Everyone does a wonderful job. I found myself rather emotional when I reached the closing credits of the final episode. The characters are developed in a way that makes them feel like you're visiting friends.

Being based on a true story, the narrative is rich in an array of emotions and personal struggles. I have not visited Colombia, and was unaware of the level of difficulty those who escaped the guerrillas faced. This prejudice is directly addressed by educating the audience as characters grow, or dig their heels in. It's done in a realistic way, without being preachy.

Initially, there are scenes set in the past and present that effectively add context when we meet Belky, La Niña. After escaping, at the still young age of 15, Belky is commits petty crimes to survive. She gets arrested, and lands in a re-entry program.

While in the program, Belky meets Manuel, who also escaped, and they start a romance. Belky also identifies her dream of studying medicine, and she is reunited with her biological family.

The brother Belky traded places with when she was abducted died while she was captive. As would be expected, it's devastating. The family is indeed in great pain. The performances are so powerful, viewers are flooded with empathy.

Reunification isn't easy. Belky and her mother experience conflict. Her sisters fear she is dangerous.

At times, Belky's mother could be misunderstood as being overbearing, but it's clear she's experiencing her own personal hell. Not only was Belky kidnapped, but her son died. The family also struggles economically.

Spanning close to four years, Belky faces many obstacles. Her former commander hunts her, a doctor tries to poison her, and a vengeful former guerrilla threatens Belky's family when she can't get to Belky.

When Belky is accepted to medical school, she finds a whole support system among the professors and students. The best part is that each character is explored, providing 3 dimensional people that go through their own growth and challenges.

Belky experiences some bullying, and later establishes a semi friendship with her bully, who we learn has a stressful home life of her own.

To me, this show illustrates the strength that lives within us. Belky's experiences are horrific, and they never break her. She keeps getting up. She keeps fighting. She is strength.

I would like to see IMDB add more information about the cast and crew. They are so talented. The production values are top notch. I don't get tired of saying the cast did an amazing job.

If I were to identify criticisms of this series, there were a few times that Belky reached out for help and adults tried to tell her things weren't as bad as she sees them. I wanted to scream at them a few times, but in the end, they all come through.

If you don't speak Spanish, English subtitles are available.

If you have the opportunity, this is a rich story, well worth your time.

The premise of this Spanish language with English subtitles series intrigued me, so I gave it a watch. The story of a little girl stolen away from her family to join the FARC (I believe) guerrillas in Columbia, then re-integrating back into society was interesting. This series has plenty of drama and suspense.

Then it turned into a nighttime soap opera similar in writing style to Quantico, IMHO. I would have NEVER started watching a soap opera, but I can't stop watching this one. I'm watching it on Netflix and am binging it. I'm at episode 15 of about around 86 episodes. I know I will finish it because I'm hooked. It's that good. I keep exclaiming to myself "I can't believe that just happened!"

********SPOILER ALERT********

It's interesting to see how Belky is put into tough situations and her guerrilla training/conditioning comes out, sometimes with repercussions. The actor playing Colonel Barragon does a good job. He makes you hate his character, but in a less-than-obvious movie bad guy way. He disrespects every female but his daughter. He overprotects her, probably because he knows there's guys out there just like himself. The man is a sleaze and is very comfortable successfully manipulating women to get his way. He has no scruples, none! It's also interesting how Belky has flashbacks that ends up helping her in medical school. The scene where she was attending a seminar and identified how a young woman died was powerful. The professors attributed that to Belky being smart, which she is, but didn't know her intimate experience with that situation which brought her to tears during the seminar.

********UPDATE********

Well, I finished the series. This is my response: (stands up and applauds enthusiastically)

Yea, though it's long (86 episodes) it's really great. There's a few episodes without much drama, but they were setting up a portion of the story that needed to happen. Belky goes though a lot, a whole lot! But after you watch all 86 episodes, the last 15 minutes of episode 86 were priceless. Watching it brought me to tears. It was a powerful moment. If you are tempted to skip to episode 86, I highly advise you not to do that. You have to see all that she goes through in order to appreciate those last 15 minutes. One subtle moment was when Belky acknowledged her friends in medical school. She even mentioned Santiago, who treated her in a disgraceful manner. She forgave him.

Here's a couple of standout supporting characters that I really enjoyed:

Victor: He's just a really nice guy, the kind you want for a friend. He's fun, has a moral compass, would do anything for his friends, but also has vulnerabilities which is displayed when his town had a mudslide. He became a really unlikable person. Fortunately, he came to his senses after his friends didn't abandon him.

Beatriz aka "Betty": I didn't see this coming. The actress's body language and facial expressions were acted really well. And her naivety and lack of control of her mouth at all the wrong times were endearing. I just liked her character. But wait, there's more....she can sing really well too! I enjoyed watching Betty.