MovieChat Forums > Narcos (2015) Discussion > I want to like this but I can't get over...

I want to like this but I can't get over the accents

posted 8 years ago by AngryAfghan
29 replies | jump to latest

It's a real shame because I can see how "good" this show is, and were it not for the horrible casting decisions and all round ignorance of Spanish, I would have really liked it. Right from the get-go, episode 1, before we even hear any dialogue the show insults my intelligence with the theme music - a song sang in Spanish but by a Brazilian! Why? It's as if they did it just to annoy me, just to put people off watching it. Then we have the lead role, played by a Brazilian, again why do this? His accent is so noticeable and distracting, every time he pronounces the letter L. I could understand if they had found an actor who was a dead ringer for Escobar, but Moura doesn't even bear any resemblance to him, so it's just a ridiculous casting choice. Lastly but most importantly, the Spanish dialogue is so disjointed and inconsistent as to render it useless - we have Escobar talking to his cousin, yet Moura uses "usted" exclusively while the other says "vos" (probably an Argentine actor) it's as if the actors just improvised the Spanish dialogue themselves.

[–] hitdoctor24 8 years ago

This is such a petty reason to not watch this show. Oh well, your loss

[–] AngryAfghan 8 years ago

It's not a petty reason, and I didn't say I stopped watching it because of this, only that it really grates on me because I am a fluent speaker of Spanish. If anything you lose more than I do because I can understand the dialogue.

[–] Geeky Randy 8 years ago

by AngryAfghan » Sat Oct 15 2016 15:57:47
IMDb member since January 2005

It's not a petty reason, and I didn't say I stopped watching it because of this, only that it really grates on me because I am a fluent speaker of Spanish.

At least the show recognized both languages. It's one thing if you can tell that an actor is playing a different nationality; but it's another thing if they're speaking the wrong language. I don't speak two languages, but movies like Scarface, Schindler's List and Slumdog Millionaire annoy me to death because I'm constantly asking myself, "WHY ARE THEY SPEAKING ENGLISH???" Now that's where I feel my intelligence is insulted. At least Naros thought highly enough of its viewers to give them subtitles instead of just changing it to broken-English.

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[–] keonkwa 8 years ago

At least the show recognized both languages. It's one thing if you can tell that an actor is playing a different nationality; but it's another thing if they're speaking the wrong language.

Good point!

Also, I really thought that Wagner Moura didn't do such a bad job. All of his critics should see Willem Dafoe in Once Upon A Time In Mexico. Now that, my friends was a bad Spanish accent for a character, who was supposedly a native Spanish speaker.

[–] badjesus 8 years ago

Why cast Daniel Day Lewis in ANYTHING? Why have an an Australian portray a Roman Gladiator? Why have a British thespian play a Sheriff in Georgia during the Zombie Apocalypse? Why is an American in the role of Sherlock Holmes? Why put another Aussie in the role of a Paraplegic American Marine who's sent to an Alien Moon inhabited by 10ft foot tall blue skinned people...with tails? ....cuz they're GOOD ACTORS AND IT'S A ROLE! God...enough with the PC mentality! What's next? Why wasn't a trans-uruguain born-non peanut eating cast as "The Squirrel" in the last Bigfoot movie??

[–] AngryAfghan 8 years ago

Gladiator is not comparable as we do not have any point of reference for Latin, Andrew Lincoln pulls off a very convincing American accent, conversely Downey does a very good job, as for Avatar...what? You clearly have no sense of perspective if you think that there is any comparison between a science fiction story and one based on true events. We are talking about two separate languages here: Portuguese and Spanish. Your comparisons to American and British actors are not even relevant as they still speak the same language and those actors you chose to mention do a very good job of masking their accents; Moura does not.

[–] stafy_w 8 years ago

Calm down, that's just a series. Netflix portrayed the reality the best way they could. Wagner Moura got back to college and spent 2 years to learn spanish. I'd say that was *beep* genius. The whole show is a masterpiece.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AngryAfghan 8 years ago

It is a good show, and I am still watching it, but a masterpiece it is not. It gets a 7/10 from me, losing 3 points for lack of authenticity. All because they couldn't cast a Spanish speaker in the main role - note I did not say a Colombian, just a native speaker, because it really is that bad.

[–] alexcregan1998 8 years ago

That's really petty of you. I'm Irish, and if a show about the IRA or something akin to that, similar to Pablo Escobar were made and a lead role had to be cast, I'd rather a great actor from abroad than to narrow my focus to only Ireland and possibly miss out on a great performance from elsewhere.

Wagner Moura gives an outstanding performance as Pablo Escobar. Accents are trivial compared to performance. You think I was bothered by F Murray Abraham in Amadeus? Hell no, because that was quality.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] InglouriousSister 8 years ago

I can sympathize on the accent thing, apart from the main song. So what if a Brazilian artist performed it? Shakira, a Colombian singer, performed a (mostly) English-language anthem for the second biggest sporting event in the world that took place in South Africa. People perform songs in languages other than their native language all the time. Especially in English.

Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

[–] CapitanJusticia 8 years ago

Shakira, a Colombian singer, performed a (mostly) English-language anthem for the second biggest sporting event in the world that took place in South Africa.

The World Cup is the BIGGEST sporting event in the world!

[–] InglouriousSister 8 years ago

Hah, I almost wrote that down because it certainly is my favorite, but for the sake of inclusivity I decided to consider the Summer Olympics the biggest instead. And FIFA is gross so they don't deserve to be called the biggest of anything.

Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

[–] reaseltbim 8 years ago

shakira was not playing the part of someone from USA....

she was only singing in english, i dont get your point

[–] InglouriousSister 8 years ago

I was obviously referring to this point in the OP:

the theme music - a song sang in Spanish but by a Brazilian! Why?

The singer that performed the song in the opening credits were not "playing someone from [Colombia]" either.

Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

[–] anabella-44243 8 years ago

Actually, in Colombia they tend to use "usted" even between close friends, and "vos" is pretty regular in Colombia AND in Honduras during conversations. Trust me, I have close family friends from Medellin and I've been there plenty of times. Other than that, I do agree with Moura's accent being extremely noticeable (I actually noticed many Peruvian actors and Escobar's mother sounds chilean), but still, love the series! I truly recommend you give it another go.

[–] AngryAfghan 8 years ago

I know that the second and third person pronouns vary from city to city in Colombia, and that tú is more prevalent in some areas, even between men. I wasn't aware of vos, but in a place as diverse as Colombia I imagine it is used somewhere.

My point though was not that these pronouns are not used in Colombia; rather, that in the show one character uses one pronoun while his cousin uses a different one. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention because I was too distracted by Moura's weird vowels and bizarre pronunciation of the letter L.

[–] smeiera 8 years ago

Yeah I am not sure why the director allowed Wagner's poor Spanish, they should have worked on that and taught him proper pronunciation and delivery. I am still on season 1, I heard his Spanish improves in season 2. Hats off to Wagner for learning Spanish in a short time period, aside from the speaking his performance is great.

Then they also have a bunch of "Colombians" that are not native Spanish speakers and you can hear it clearly. I know it's a show mainly made for English speaking audiences, but they should have gotten that right, especially since they tried to make it as factual as possible.

Overall it is still a great show and I am looking forward to Season 2.

[–] RubberDucksInMyTub 8 years ago

OP, wow thank you for the astute observation and opinion. It seems to me that your post is less a genuine criticism, and more of opportunity to tell a bunch of strangers that you took Spanish in high school.

Someone fluent in Spanish should have known that formal and informal phrasing varies depending on where it is being used, and the variation of the language. Most learn this the first semester of Spanish language arts.

[–] Geeky Randy 8 years ago

It seems to me that your post is less a genuine criticism, and more of opportunity to tell a bunch of strangers that you took Spanish in high school.

Wasn't going to say anything… but yeah… ^ This. Got the same impression.

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[–] AngryAfghan 8 years ago

High school? How about University degree, 3 years TEACHING high school and a masters in translation. I was not talking about formal vs informal register. Nice try though.