La Niña

La Niña follows the life of a teenager, Belky Bustamante (aka Alias Sara) who comes from a rural town in Colombia. However, when she was about 9 years old she was taken into la Guerrilla which is a group that  are in a sense rebels. They are against the government and the decisions made on how the country is run. La Guerrilla goes into combat with the military in the small towns, but in order to remain prevalent they must recruit members. In these rural towns they take little kids away from their families and train them to be fighting machines. Belky was taken one day while her parents were away, but she gave herself up instead of her brother (who they really came for) due to the fact that he was epileptic. Her childhood was stripped away from her as well as her family at a very young age, but one day she gets out of the group and goes into a reintegration program at the age of 15. There they have kids like her that have had a rough childhood who are attempting to get back into society and make something more out of themselves. At this place, in the first episode she (of course) meets her love interest Manuel. He too was apart of a rebel group (paramilitar), so this gives them a strong bond where they are able to relate to experiences that aren't too common. However, this leads to them having obstacles to find their way back to each other. In the beginning since they did not receive an education while in these groups, so they must validate/ study in order to get a degree. In this process it becomes evident that Belky is a genius and finds her passion for helping people; therefore, she decides to study to become a doctor. During this they find her family and she must assimilate to their lifestyle as well. However, they move to the city due to safety reasons since people from her group are following her in order for her to return back to camp. 

Belky's story is a representation that's a mirror due to the fact that is the reality of many rural kids who were taken away from their families and childhoods in order to be fighter for the cause. However, her story is a twist on a Cinderella type of telenovela due to the fact that she is a poor, rural, beautiful girl that is inherently good. The only issue is that in order to survive in la Guerrilla she must make decisions that are out of character for her. Belky also has the characteristic that she has made several geographic journeys when she left to go fight, as she was fighting they would go terrorize different towns, when she is at the reintegration program, the day she goes back home, and when the whole family moves to the capital (Bogota). There is also an obvious transformation in her becoming more confident and being able to go back into society. She also becomes more feminine since while she was apart of the group she had to stay more on the masculine side. This was in order for her to survive and be seen as tough. It is a big adjustment for her since she's had to kinda hide that part of herself. Finally, she is also going to have a socioeconomic ascent once she becomes a doctor. However, she is not someone who is truly pure or naive. On the contrary, she is a very smart girl who is also cunning. 

Another element that the telenovela adds for drama is the typical love triangle for the protagonist. Between the two guys Manuel is the one that understands Belky's past and knows everything about her like her family. On the other hand, Santiago (the other guy) comes from a rich family of doctors, is studying to become one with Belky, and has had an interest in her from the beginning. However, he makes a bet with his friend Natalia that he can easily get Belky which takes away his appeal to the audience. Therefore, most people are rooting and hoping that Manuel is the one she ends up with, but he makes mistakes along the way. Such as, he gets a girl from the reintegration program, Yolima, pregnant, but Belky saw them when she tried to surprise him one day. The obstacles are what make the show more like a telenovela, but not a typical one. The show goes in many different directions in order for it to be heart-felt, family surrounded, a transformation, crime, based on a true story, Cinderella, and by the end (hopefully) a happy ending.