Netflix has acquired the rights to produce a series based on the work of Gabriel García Márquez.
Photo: frame from the film.
At one point, the novel by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez changed the understanding of many about how literature can be created, by what laws a novel (and a person in general) and its characters can live, and what themes to touch upon. The author developed the theme of the evolution of humanity and the pendulum of personality decline, like a Boschian canvas, throughout the life of several generations of the Buendía dynasty, tormented by madness, war, curses, inexplicable supernatural phenomena (endless rain) and the impossibility of love. Obviously inspired by the aesthetics of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the book gave rise to a whole movement of fanatical followers of Marquez’s philosophy. However, the cult work never received a symmetrical film adaptation (more on the reasons below). And the streaming service Netflix, which nevertheless received the rights to mount a series based on the work, will try to correct this mistake.
The problem at first was that the author himself was against any film adaptation that could indirectly erase the impression of the novel, or even replace it (the lazy know that watching is easier and faster than reading). Moreover, Marquez rightly believed that the epic “SLO” cannot be confined within the limited framework of cinema. The story of the Buendía family lasts, as its name suggests, for a century. And the question of the word, the author’s main specialty, is also of considerable importance. One of the most influential classics of our time (he facilitated negotiations between the presidents of the United States and Cuba) was sure that if the work was filmed, it would be only in Spanish. And who in Spain could do this? Not Pedro Almodóvar.
Photo: frame from the film.
But in 2014, Nobel Prize winner Marquez passed away, and the enterprising descendants immediately found an opportunity to reach an agreement with Netflix producers: the writer’s sons, Rodrigo and Gonzalo, were hired as executive producers, meaning they will not only earn from the sale of rights.
Photo: frame from the film.
“In the last three or four years, the level, quality and success of TV series and miniseries have increased significantly,” says Rodrigo Marquez, the author’s son. — Netflix was one of the first to show that people are willing to watch a series in a foreign language with subtitles. The old problems have disappeared.”
And now we have a trailer for the project, which contains a quote from the beginning of the novel:
“Many years will pass and Colonel Aureliano Buendía, standing next to the wall awaiting his execution, will remember that distant afternoon when his father took him with him to contemplate the ice.”
Photo: frame from the film.
It is impossible to tell from the video whether the creators of the series will follow the approach word for word, but visually the style of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” so far resembles the crime hit “Narcos”, dedicated to the confrontation of drug cartels in Colombia and Mexico. It is immediately noticeable that Marquez’s recommendations were followed: the characters really speak Spanish, because they are played by actors who speak that language: Claudio Cataño, Jerónimo Barón, Marco González and Leonardo Soto.
Netflix has yet to announce a release date, but it’s already clear that this project will become one of the service’s biggest hopes.
