Xica da Silva is a Brazilian Soap opera produced by Rede Manchete (now RedeTV!), written by Walcyr Carrasco and directed by Walter Avancini and Jacques Lagôa. It stars Taís Araújo and Victor Wagner with the antagonistic participation of Drica Moraes and the first actor Altair Lima.^[1][2]

This telenovela is inspired by the life of Xica da Silva, one of the most famous women in Brazil, who was a free slave who lived in the mid-18th century in the village of Tijuco (now Diamantina, Minas Gerais), lived with the commander of the day with whom she had thirteen children and became the richest and most powerful person in the region.

The novel consists of 231 chapters.

It was transmitted in Brazil in 1996 and was later exported and retransmitted to the world from that date, having great acceptance in places as far away as Africa.

It is considered one of the most famous novels about slavery, along with The Slave Isaura.

Its transmission sparked controversy by crude scenes of nudity and violence.

In short, the plot takes place in the 18th century in Tijuco, when Brazil was still a colony of Portugal.

The Xica slave became queen thanks to her natural feminine charm and cunning, scandalizing the prejudiced, racist and hypocritical society of the time.

The story is told with comical, dramatic and erotic moments, being this mix quite successful to attract the public to the social plots that are the background of the stories that take place in Tijuco.

Thus, we can appreciate human rights violations in times of slavery and machismo, among other social evils that persist today, all of this set in a century that resists the social changes that were taking place.

Avancini's ambitious direction for Xica da Silva resulted in a strong, sensual, realistic telenovela, and did not spare any scenes of explicit violence.

There are countless sequences of murders, executions, tortures and even rapes.

One of the strongest moments of the novel appears when Maria, Xica's mother, is killed having her arms and legs tied to four horses that, scared by a shot, run in opposite directions, dismembering the body of the then ex-slave in the public square.

Besides that, the scenes involving the witchcraft of the characters of Bemvinda (Welcome) and Violante did not economize on technology and realism.

"Xica da Silva" became the first Brazilian soap opera broadcast in prime time to feature a black actress, Taís Araújo, who was only 17 when she was cast in the role, but it was only when she turned 18 that the actress was able to act naked in the novel.

Actress Zezé Motta (who played Xica da Silva in the film of the same name in 1976) plays the role of Maria, Xica's mother, and in the final chapter she plays Xica in her old age.

Several actors who were in the cast were pure marketing plays promoted by director Walter Avancini.

Such is the case of Adriane Galisteu (Clara Caldeira), who had little parliament, but appeared naked throughout most of the novel.

Another marketing move was the participation of Ilona Staller, "la Cicciolina", a porn actress and Hungarian MP naturalized Italian.

She was invited to act in the final chapters as Princess Ludovica of Castelgandolfo.

Singers Eduardo Dusek, Kiko Zambianchi and Leci Brandão, who had never been actors in novels, also participated, with the latter staying longer in the cast.

The soap opera "Xica da Silva" had an investment of more than ten million dollars, with an impeccable historical reconstruction work that goes from the making of about one hundred costumes to three hundred wigs that faithfully reproduce the models used in the 18th century.

In the original opening of the novel, exhibited in the now extinct Rede Manchete, photos of the church of San Francisco de Asís in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, were used.

The paintings in the church were photographed and retouched; later, they were animated and gave rise to the opening of the soap opera, which scandalized the viewers, since in it, Xica is placed in the place of Our Lady of the Conception, which adorns the dome of the baroque church.

In addition to the city in Maricá, the studios of the Água Grande Complex and the rarely beautiful nature of Diamantina, the novel also had locations in Portugal.

The scenes of the last chapters were recorded in the Palace of the Marquis of Pombal in Lisbon.