Speaking of Chocolate...

In 1989 writer Laura Esquivel wrote one of the most beloved novels of modern Mexican literature... "Como Agua para Chocolate" ("Like Water for Chocolate").  The title is a Mexican expression that describes someone whose emotions are about to boil over.  The book was a best-seller in Mexico and was translated into 20 languages.

The novel is an example of "magic realism", a literary style that originated in Latin America.  It  weaves elements of fantasy into an otherwise realistic story.   The main character of Esquival's book is Tita, a young woman who has an extraordinary talent for cooking and is able to transmit her emotions to others through her food.  She is in love with Pedro, and they wish to marry.  However, Tita is the youngest of three daughters, and it is the family tradition that the youngest daughter never marry in order to care for the mother in her old age.

In 1992 the book was adapted into a critically acclaimed motion picture.  It won ten Ariel Awards (the Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards) including best picture.  In the United States it was the highest grossing foreign language film ever released up to that time.

I bring all this up, because HBO has made a series based on the novel and film.  I did not realize that Alejandro has a subscription to HBO, so the last several nights I have been watching the six episodes of Season 1.

First of all, the acting and cinematography are excellent.  Especially outstanding is the performance by Irene Azuela, who plays Tita's mama, doña Elena, a villainess that you love to hate.  The scenes showing the preparation of  food (each episode features a different traditional recipe) are scrumptious and made me hungry.

 

However, the book is a relatively short novel of around 250 pages, and the original movie, which was quite faithful to the book, ran under 2 hours.  Each episode of season 1 of the HBO series runs between 40 and 50 minutes, so I have already put in almost 5 hours watching this series .  And how many more hours will there be for season 2?  Obviously the writers put in a lot of extra stuff to fill in all that time.  The book was set during the era of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, but the revolution is a presence that is mostly in the background.  This is first and foremost a love story, and the tale of Tita's struggle against stultifying traditions that prevent her from attaining her true love.  In the HBO production the Revolution is front and center almost to the point of pushing the love story to a secondary position.  And I must say that the timeline of the historical events seems askew.  The first two episodes were fairly faithful to the book, but then the writers went crazy, adding events, characters, flashbacks and entire story lines that never appeared in the novel.  At times I would not have even recognized this as an adaptation of Esquivel's book.

It is quite telling that Laura Esquival is not happy with the series.  She has stated, "This is not my book."

The second season premieres this weekend, but I don't know if I will even bother watching any more episodes.  HBO also has the original movie, and I started to watch that.  I've seen it several times before, and it seems like an old, familiar friend.  In so many ways it is superior to what HBO has done to this beloved novel.