Netflix has just released the first part of one of its most ambitious series: “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, adapted from a literary masterpiece. Is it worth a look?
What is it about?
The chronicles of several generations of the Buendia family whose patriarch, Jose Arcadio Buendia, is the founder of Macondo, a fictional town in Colombia.
Who is it with?
Filmed in Colombia, the series One Hundred Years of Solitude was co-directed by Alex García López (Misfits, Marvel's Luke Cage, The Witcher, Star Wars: The Acolyte) and Laura Mora (Frontera Verde, Los reyes del mundo).
The two cornerstones of the series are played by Marco González (The Dark Hour), who plays Jose Arcadio Buendía, the patriarch of the family, and Susana Morales, who plays Ursula Iguarán, the matriarch.
The whole story of One Hundred Years of Solitude begins with them and their “cursed” or “forbidden” love according to the fears of their respective families. Indeed, Jose and Ursula are cousins and those around them fear that their descendants will be adorned with a pigtail at birth.
Jose and Ursula will have children without malformation, and their own children, including a certain Colonel Aureliano (Claudio Cataño, seen in Maria Magdalena) and his numerous descendants made up of several Aurelianos, who will understand as events unfold that their destiny was written and predicted by a gypsy alchemist named Melquiades (Carlos Suaréz, seen in La Casa de Papel),
Is it worth a look?
It is a masterpiece of literature that Netflix has tackled with this series and not least, with the support of the author's family. Ranked among the 100 best books of all time, A hundred years of solitudeconsidered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, has sold more than 50 million copies and translated into around forty languages.
Published in 1967, the work of Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian novelist, short story writer, journalist and Nobel Prize winner for literature, is cited as being the centerpiece of Ibero-American literature and the most convincing representative of the magical realism movement.
A Dantesque family fresco
The scale of the story of One Hundred Years of Solitude is such that it has long been deemed unadaptable and you have to hold on tight to understand all the relationships that take place in the Buendía family because you have them for seven generations. Especially since some characters have the same name as their elders or their ancestors, just to spice things up.
Netflix
Fortunately for the audience, a voice-over is used to narrate this tragic tale and guide the audience through this historical and mystical fresco that surrounds the Buendía family. The latter is led by Jose Arcadio Buendía and Ursula Iguarán, two cousins married against the wishes of their loved ones, who left their village with friends and adventurers.
They founded a utopian city on the banks of a river of prehistoric stones which they named Macondo. This new home will become a cradle of life, which will see the Buendía lineage grow and evolve with the births, deaths, wars, illnesses, love and madness that will punctuate and torment their existence .
Because One Hundred Years of Solitude has an undeniable novela side, due to its intrigue and its cultural core, but this ambitious soapesque tone fits perfectly with the scale of the narration, which is made up of encounters, twists and turns and tragedies.
A fascinating and mystical tale
As if the Buendía family's existence wasn't already rich enough, they are confronted with magical phenomena, gifts, curses and transcendental quests that will lead them to a bittersweet truth. Because the lineage is tormented by the fear of a terrible curse which condemns them, without hope, to a hundred years of solitude.
Netflix
Even if the Buendía family, very charismatic and almost shamanistic for a city in constant expansion, occupies a central place in its community and the populations who will come to meet them, they nonetheless remain alone in their reflections and their evolution.
Because One Hundred Years of Solitude, as its name indicates, condemns the family to be recluse in this city (even for the members who leave, they always return as if magnetized to this cursed and saving home) which saw them born and who will see her die.
A sort of spiritual and providential closed door, this series captivates with its intelligently unfolded story, alternating between the past and the present, and fascinates with its mystical twist which gives the family an almost divine singularity, with its qualities and its deviances.
Everything is embodied by a large troupe of actors, young and old, involved and placed in impressive and ambitious settings, with the right dose of visual effects which gives a feeling of authenticity to the work, paradoxical to its atmosphere enchanted and fantastic.
The first part of 8 episodes of the series “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is available on Netflix. The second part of 8 episodes will also be released soon.
