“One Hundred Years of Solitude”, review: a true and fascinating film adaptation of a classic work

Writer Gabriel García Márquez spent most of his life turning down the possibility of his book being adapted into a film. One Hundred Years of Solitude. This is because he believed that the work could not be translated into any format other than literary. He had no shortage of reasons. The novel, telling the story of seven generations of the Buendia family in a fictional town surrounded by extraordinary events, seemed incomprehensible. Not only because of its complexity, destructive timeline and dozens of characters. Also, because of the magical realism context of the story.

However, the first eight episodes One Hundred Years of Solitude from Netflix, demonstrate that the episodic format is ideal for telling a similar story. Produced and directed by Alex García López and Laura Mora, the series uses the well-known story of a city doomed for destruction to explore universal themes. Moreover, doing so with an almost deferential respect for the original material. The result was a trip around the world, conceived by a Colombian Nobel laureate. full of detail and hints about the complex universe of fiction.

But at the same time, the production manages to find its own rhythm and tone. The script by José Rivera, Natalia Santa, Camila Brugues, Maria Camila Arias and Albatross Gonzalez is skillful enough to find a new dimension to the text. That is, taking the idea of ​​a curse passed down from generation to generation as a brilliant allegory about loneliness and loss. Much more about how desire, violence and ultimately cruelty can corrupt an essentially innocent world. Themes are all this One Hundred Years of Solitude shows in a detailed plot about the lives and decisions of its characters.

Complex family tree

Thus, the producers make a smart decision to transform the narrative without taking breaks in the book into very specific chapters. Each of which tells a specific and essential part of the novel. The first episode, titled “Makondo”, shows the founding of a mythical fictional city in a series of dream scenes that are more ominous than fantastical. In fact, this first approach to history makes a few things clear. The series has a strong interest in delving into the idea of ​​judging ancestors.capable of lasting more than a century in the lives of various figures.

As such, the script uses the same devastating chronology of the novel to explore different timelines. Just like the various events that will sooner or later mark the life of Macondo. Careful editing by Irene Blequa and Miguel Schwerdfinger keeps the story from getting muddled. Much more, having managed to establish parallels between different characters that support the development of the plot through decades of births, deaths and all kinds of circumstances.

The production places particular emphasis on using the jungle environment, and later the growing city, as an environment that defines the characters’ personalities. Cinematography by Paulo Perez and Maria Saraswati delves into symbolism that shows how Macondo and Buendia are completely connected. So while the newborn city blooms with hope, the family will enjoy the best moments. Just like the decline of a city, It will mark the death of the last members of the clan.

Magic realism streaming

The series, which begins with long flashbacks to Colonel Aureliano Buendía (Claudio Cataño), follows the same line as the book. Therefore, the plot reimagines the strange, jungle and primeval world described in the text as a mysterious landscape. Many of the best moments of the series’ early chapters occur when the plot reveals the story’s darkest moments. Moreover, it makes them almost supernatural, amidst a series of cryptic hints at a shared mystery.

Gradually production brightens and Macondo prospers and becomes a prosperous and vibrant city. However, the script does not forget about the dark nuance that accompanies its characters. Each of their lives is doomed to failure or pain, connected by a thread leading to an almost apocalyptic end. The plot takes the above and turns them into universal themes. like love, heartbreak and finding purpose.

One of the most interesting elements One Hundred Years of Solitude is that, as in a choral work, all its main characters have equal weight in the plot. This ensures brilliance and careful development for each of them. Thus, the delusional enterprises of the patriarch José Arcadio Buendia (Marco Gonzalez in his youth and Diego Vazquez in his old age) have their own significance and depth. This is in addition to the setting in which some twists and turns regarding the remaining characters will take place. The same can be said about the patriotic exploits of Colonel Buendia, about the failed romance of Amaranta (Luna Ruiz) and even about events with a magical aspect. like “The Plague of Insomnia,” to which the production devotes an entire chapter.

A work that is destined to last

One Hundred Years of Solitude Not only does it capture the spirit of the work being adapted, a major achievement in a groundbreaking novel for the understanding of Latin American literature. Moreover, he transforms the famous magical realism into a collection of dreamlike imagery, elegantly mixed with the most mundane subtext of the story. As a result, the Columbia depicted in the series has something of a legendary timelessness. Everything from love, religion, esoteric, intellectual curiosity to the ability to be surprised. Themes around which the series builds its complex and dense universe.

But at the same time, the obvious identity associated with the essence of a complex story becomes increasingly painful as it unfolds. Halfway between drama, folk tale and tragic story of shared suffering, One Hundred Years of Solitude surprises and excites. At the same time, it demonstrates significant capabilities which represent several of the great literary classics of recent years.