A hit Brazilian telenovela is updated for a different age

When benedito ruy barbosa first pitched “Pantanal”, a telenovela about rugged ranchers and landless peasants, to tv Globo, Brazil’s biggest television network, it was rejected. So Mr Barbosa took his idea elsewhere. For months his crew relocated to the region that gave the show its name, which is home to the world’s largest tropical wetland. They flew over floodplains in small aircraft to reach their locations. They filmed their actors silhouetted against sunsets.