# The Slave Isaura (2004)

> A light-skinned enslaved woman in 1830s Brazil is raised as a lady yet remains bound by the law of her birth.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/12299

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 167
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, romance
- Created by: Tiago Santiago, Anamaria Nunes
- Network: Record
- Cast: Bianca Rinaldi, Leopoldo Pacheco, Theo Becker, Mayara Magri, Jackson Antunes, Patrícia França, Deo Garcez, Maria Ribeiro
- TMDB rating: 6.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435926/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melodramatic, sincere, emotional, tense, romantic

## What critics say

Audiences rate the telenovela's emotional melodrama and social critique of slavery in 19th-century Brazil as mixed, with its sweeping romance and injustice resonating strongly.

## Synopsis

The Slave Isaura (2004-2005) is a Brazilian telenovela created by Tiago Santiago and Anamaria Nunes for Record. Bianca Rinaldi plays Isaura, the daughter of an enslaved woman, who is raised and educated by Gertrudes on a plantation in 1830s Brazil yet is never allowed to forget her birth. Her world is shaped by Leopoldo Pacheco as the domineering Leôncio Almeida and by the shifting loyalties of Theo Becker's Álvaro Mendonça, a suitor whose affections run into the rigid rules of rank and skin colour. Across a single run of 167 hour-long episodes, the story is built from intrigue, disguised identities, and romantic entanglements that keep pressing against the limits of what a freed or educated woman can claim. Miriam Mehler and Maria Ribeiro add household rivalries and social maneuvering. The tone is melodramatic and sincere, with heavy emotional swings, lush period costume, and an unflinching view of cruelty. Viewers who love the sweeping social stakes of Roots or the heightened romance of Gone with the Wind will find a similar appetite for suffering and resilience here. It is a one-season Record production that delivers a complete, emotionally satisfying arc.

## Shows like The Slave Isaura

- [The Clone (2001)](https://ember.film/tv/13848)
- [India: A Love Story (2009)](https://ember.film/tv/7419)
- [Land of Desire (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/131052)
- [Gabriela (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/41859)
- [Perfect Love (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/130921)
- [The King of The Cattle (1996)](https://ember.film/tv/38225)
- [Desperate Lies (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/143411)
- [Empire (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/57068)
- [Hasta que la plata nos separe (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/122669)
- [Escrava Isaura (1976)](https://ember.film/tv/5315)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt