One Hundred Years of Solitude

In 1967 the Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez published the novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (Cien Años de Soledad).  The work won García Márquez a Nobel Prize in literature and is considered one of the most important achievements in Latin American and world literature.  It ushered in the literary genre known as "magic realism" in which magical elements are mixed with an otherwise realistic view of the world.  It tells the story of several generations of the Buendía family.  It begins with José Arcadio and his wife Ursula who, along with a number of friends, leave their home and establish the town of Macondo.

García Márquez during his lifetime refused to sell the film rights to the novel.  In 2019 the family of the author sold the rights to Netflix with the stipulations that it be filmed in Colombia in Spanish with Colombian actors.  The first season of eight episodes covers the first third of the novel, and premiered last December.

(Billboards along Paseo de la Reforma, advertising the series)

Alejandro and I have watched the first four episodes so far.  The production of this difficult novel is excellent.  The cinematography is beautiful, and the acting is very good.  Even though I read the novel many, many years ago in graduate school, I am finding it difficult to keep track of the characters.  I have found it necessary to go on the internet and look for a family tree of the Buendía family.  Viewers who do not speak Spanish will need to turn on the English subtitles.  (Even I have the subtitles on so that I catch everything.)  The "magic realism" of the story might not be to everyone's taste, but the series so far does justice to this important work of literature.