Rio de Janeiro (Reuters) – Brazil’s hugely popular television soap-operas usually deal with tear-filled romance. But the violence engulfing the country has upstaged the melodrama and taken one “telenovela” to the top of the ratings.

“Vidas Opostas” (Opposite Lives) is a hit with residents of Rio de Janeiro, where it is set, and around the country, despite complaints that people are weary of the real-life bloodshed and gory newscasts.

“We are showing things as they are in Rio – slums, drug traffickers, corrupt cops, rotten politicians, and common people caught in the middle of all that”, director Alexandre Avancini said.

The prime-time telenovela on the Rede Record network, shot partly in a real slum, has beat leading network Globo in the ratings several times when pitted against big league soccer games – an undeniable sign of popularity in Brazil.

A love-story is not missing. “Vidas Opostas” is the story of a young millionaire heir who loves a girl who lives in a slum, or favela. The favela is controlled by a drug gang that is in the middle of a turf with a rival group, which has the backing of a corrupt cop, a typical scenario in many of Rio’s 600-plus shanty towns.

(http://www.gulf-times.com)