For Brazilians, soaps are both fun, fantasy

Celia Macedo was so frustrated by the way her favorite Brazilian soap opera portrayed life in the United States that she called up the television network to complain.

''When it started, I thought it was nice," she said. ''I thought it was going to say the truth. But they lie a lot."

Macedo was talking about ''América," a soap that focuses on the story of Brazilian immigrants in the United States. The show has enthralled -- and sometimes infuriated -- local immigrants.

Brazilians here say it's hard to explain how popular their soaps are. Try rolling ''The Sopranos," ''Seinfeld," and ''Desperate Housewives" all into one to get an idea of the appeal. Everyone watches: the poor, the wealthy, couples, children, grandparents, entire families. Six days a week. Each new series, or novela, lasts about six months. The shows, which are in Portuguese, are available from local cable and satellite companies for an additional fee.

Macedo, 40, and several other Brazilians living in the Framingham area said ''América" has erred on the side of fantasy, making life as an immigrant seem much easier than it actually is.

Macedo recalled telling someone at the TV network's office in California that it's misleading to give the impression that ''you come over and you make money and money and money. . . . I called to say they have to say the truth."

Still, Macedo, who works as both a waitress and a housecleaner, hardly ever missed an episode. She gathered family and friends at her home Saturday night so they could watch the last episode on her satellite TV. They passed around a plate of grilled meat and chatted during the show about the characters and the story line.

Many other Brazilian immigrants in the area can't afford the satellite service, which costs about $25 monthly, so they gathered in restaurants to watch. Still others who don't have time for daily viewing followed the show through synopses on the Internet.

Flavia Freitas, 25, was catching some of the soap last week at the Copacabana Grill in downtown Framingham, while eating dinner with friends. She said she never misses an episode on the Internet. Asked if it gave an accurate impression of this country to Brazilians back home, she smiled and shook her head.

''Back there, they think it's easier than it is," she said. ''It's not like that here anymore."

Sol, the show's glamorous main character, worked as a bartender, even though she couldn't speak English, and made good money as a go-go dancer. She was lucky, too, winning $10,000 from a casino shortly after getting to the States.

In contrast, Freitas cleaned houses to help support her 1-year-old son.

Local Brazilians say there was some brutal truth in ''América" -- the difficulty of crossing the Mexican border, for example, and of dealing with the ''coyotes" who charge as much as $10,000 per person to sneak into the country.

In one scene, a Brazilian woman couldn't keep up with a group trying to sneak over the border because she was bitten by a snake. Her coyote gave her a choice -- he would leave her to die in the desert or end it quickly by shooting her. She chose to be shot. The scene was based on a story that was reported in Brazilian newspapers.

But the soap didn't show the day-to-day trials and tribulations, the everyday struggles to learn a new language and culture, the cramped living conditions, and the stress of surviving without a Social Security card or driver's license.

And since the show was set in Miami, there was, of course, no snow to shovel or icy roads to navigate as there is in Boston's western suburbs.

The creator of ''América," Glória Perez, told the Brazilian expatriate newspaper A Notícia -- published in Malden and distributed in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire -- that in her research for the show, she found that few immigrants succeed in the United States. But she said they are willing to keep trying because Brazilian unemployment is high and the lure of the American Dream is so strong.

In the interview with reporter Márcia Rodrigues, Perez rejected the notion that ''América" might influence more Brazilians to emigrate, calling it ''absurd" to think a television show could have so much impact.

Marcos Cancado, a psychologist who came to the United States from Brazil 11 years ago, said soaps are extremely influential and they often touch on current news topics, so immigration is not a surprising choice for the latest theme.

''It's extremely popular, and people discuss that when they go to parties, when they go to have a drink with a friend, when they are having dinner with relatives," he said. ''It's almost like they are living that experience. People identify with the characters."

Viewers even argue about the hot topics the show raises, but Cancado agreed with Perez that the show isn't luring people to America.

He said the lack of reality -- the escapism -- is necessary to draw in viewers and make the soap so popular. It's not a documentary, after all.

Cancado, a Newton resident, said he doesn't watch soaps much anymore because he doesn't identify with them after more than a decade in this country -- except when he goes to Brazil for a visit.

''Even my father, who is elderly, he watches now," said Cancado. ''When I was little, I remember the whole family used to get together and watch it and talk about it, and just have that hour to get together -- you cry, you laugh. It brings the family together."

According to the television network Globo, which aired ''América," 82 percent of the television sets in Brazil were tuned in to the final episode. Around the world, the network estimates the show drew 1.9 million viewers in 45 other countries.

The final episode of the show, viewed through American eyes, was a melodramatic blur of crying, kissing, and dancing. And even though it's filmed a world away, the soap still gave viewers a ''Hollywood ending." The bad guy -- the coyote -- got arrested, and Sol, the doe-eyed heroine, was reunited with her American boyfriend and their son in Brazil.

''No more, no more 'América,' " said Macedo, a little wistfully, as the last episode ended on an upbeat note. ''But Monday starts another one."

Lisa Kocian can be reached at 508-820-4231 or by e-mail at lkocian@globe.com.