Dona Barbara (1998)

The second feature film based on Dona Barbara is an odd beast.  While it may be truer to the novel's Venezuelan local, it is profoundly lacking for us. While this Barbara does manage one scene in gauchos and boots, she spends most of the movie in long dresses. This version also shows her as having a strong reliance on magic and there's a sub-plot that seems to revolve around magic chicken feathers.  I'm glad I found it, but.....One thing that did surprise me-the 1943 version ends with Barbara not shooting her rival Marisela and the movie fades to black shortly thereafter. In the 1998 version we see what appears to be a flash forward that shows Marisela out of her peasant garb, dressed for riding and brandishing a whip. That's got to mean something.


http://www20.zippyshare.com/v/f7Zm57xv/file.html
Some riding boot scenes from Dona Barbara (1998)


As my good friend and esteemed colleague John Smith pointed out in a comment, the entire season of the 2008 Dona Barbara Telenovela is on youtube.  All 190 episodes. Maybe someday I'll go through them all. I'm sure there are some golden needles in that haystack. Someday.