Sumith Prasad
Directed by Diego Freitas, Netflix’s erotic thriller film ‘Burning Betrayal’ revolves around Bárbara “Babi” Nucci, who learns that her fiancé Caio Laruzi Sampaio has been betraying her for two years by sleeping with another woman. Caio’s unforgivable actions lead Babi to Marco Ladeia, a captivating judge. While Babi and Marco’s togetherness progresses well, the former learns a startling secret concerning the latter, which makes her wonder whether the judge is any different from her ex-partner. Since betrayal is a universal occurrence, the Brazilian film has made us dive into the real-life connections of the same. Well, here’s what we have found!
The Good Betrayals
‘Burning Betrayal’ is not based on a true story. The erotic thriller is a film adaptation of Sue Hecker’s novel ‘O Lado Bom de Ser Traída.’ In an interview given in 2020, the author revealed that the novel was not based on any specific real-life betrayals experienced by herself or anyone close to her but on similar actions in general. The title of Hecker’s novel roughly translates as, “The Good Side of Being Betrayed.” Rather than focusing on the negative impacts of betrayals, the source novel explores whether it is possible to be on the good side of the same.
In Hecker’s novel and Diego Freitas’ adaptation, betrayals are not necessarily evil. It is Thiago’s decision to betray his partner-in-crime Caio, by giving the latter’s photographs with another woman to his partner, that helps Babi to learn the truth about her fiancé. Upon knowing that Caio has been cheating on her with a secret lover, Babi liberates herself from the walls of their relationship to experience other dimensions of life. In addition to avoiding spending the rest of her life with a betrayer, she gains a trustworthy partner eventually, only because Thiago turns against Caio. Similarly, Thiago betraying his best friend results in the unraveling of the astounding truth concerning the former.
Babi learns the truth about the money laundering affairs that have been happening in her construction company after Thiago betrays his best friend. His attempts to kill her to safeguard his future from the law ultimately reveal his wrongdoings and true nature. Although Babi’s life gets threatened due to the same, she must have learned to differentiate the external and internal natures of a person after dealing with Thiago. Even when Babi becomes the victim of these betrayals, her life only benefits from the same one way or another, as made evident by Marco.
Marco “cheats” Babi without letting her know that he is married and has a daughter. When she learns the same, she storms off from his life, feeling immensely betrayed. She doesn’t tolerate that her partner hid something this significant about his life from her. Babi, however, forgives Marco when she realizes that her partner is engaged in divorce proceedings to legally separate from his wife Paula after parting ways with the latter a considerable while ago. Although what Marco does is a mistake, it brings them closer. Babi becomes an integral part of the judge’s life and she even welcomes his daughter to be with them after knowing about her existence.
Hecker’s multidimensional narrative makes us explore the two sides of any betrayal without rushing to conclusions. The source novel teaches us that there’s nothing in the world that’s outrightly good or bad, which echoes significantly in reality as well. Even though the author’s work is fictional, the book’s takeaways are unignorably connected to life as we know and experience.
Read More: Burning Betrayal: All Filming Locations of the Netflix Movie
