TV series “Monarca” shows Mexico that doesn’t ride burros or wear sombreros

Mexico City —  The television series “Monarca,” which will air on Netflix on Sept. 13, depicts a Mexico that is “current, that doesn’t ride a burro or wear a sombrero,” the show’s producer, actress Salma Hayek , said Tuesday.

“It’s a series that shows the corporate Mexico with great sophistication, there’s politics (in it) too, traditions. We show a cosmopolitan, vibrant, interesting, culinary city ... And we also show a rich, vast province with traditions, mystery, beauty,” she said at a press conference in Mexico City.

The fiction series recounts and unveils the secrets of a powerful Mexican family with huge business dealings and other links - told in a subtle way - with corruption and drug trafficking.

At the center of this tale of modern Mexico with elements of mystery is the matriarch of the family, played by actress Rosa Maria Bianchi, and her three children, who seek to divide power among themselves and who are played by Irene Azuela, Juan Manuel Bernal and Osvaldo Benavides.

At the press conference, Hayek said that - with this view of the country - she “would like for people in other countries to identify” with the Mexican characters.

“They’re going to be identified with in all countries around the world,” said the veteran actress of the series, which will be seen in more than 190 countries.

The actors said that they are convinced that the production will break down many of the long-standing cliches about Mexico established in films and other TV series.

Benavides called the series “a mirror of the reality in which we live” that shows “how a nuclear family can affect an entire country.”

Another of the strong points emphasized by the popular actor is that the series “is complex, it’s not only about one thing.”

He also said that “it’s not a story about narcos, of which there are already too many,” but rather “this is something else, it’s something fresh, something different.”

“What’s important here are the relationships (among the characters), that’s what it’s about,” he said, emphasizing that his character in the series is marked by lying and lives a double life.

His cast colleague, Bernal, who plays the older brother, said that the production “is a big picture of a Mexican family.”

He plays the businessman of the family and also the one who orders people to carry out “the dark things that someone has to do so that things work in this country or in any Latin American country.”

Azuela plays the sister, who returns from the United States to take the reins of the family business.

“The family forces her to return. Ana Maria is the sister in the middle, the sister who decided not to be part of this operation, of this life, these activities,” she said.

The series mixes the adrenaline-filled life of the city with beautiful countryside filled with traditional ranches with thousands of agave plants.

Azuela noted that, in speaking with Hayek before beginning filming for the series, the producer told her that she wanted to depict “the modernity” of Mexico.