13/33
In the timeless town of Macondo, seven generations of the Buendía family navigate love, oblivion, and the inevitability of their past and their destiny. This is Netflix’s most expensive Latin American-made project to date, with Colombian teams and indigenous communities building the props and sets for the series. The 100 Years of Solitude is one of the great pinnacles of Spanish-language literature. Its style is unparalleled and its scope is beyond imagination. Its characters are so well-characterized that any screenwriter would have no problem writing them for the screen. But the insurmountable problem in adapting the novel was its time frame. Compressing a hundred years of family and national history was an impossible task. Nearly 60 years after its publication, the novel has found a cinematic home on Netflix. Only streaming can do it justice, and the first 2 episodes really promise. Great cinematography, art direction, and respect for the characters. Garcia Marquez’s wonderful prose needs to be voiced to emerge from time to time. The plot unfolds smoothly with richness and depth. I love it, and I was a little skeptical about whether the magical world of GGM could be translated to the screen. Well, so far it’s a success in my book. “One Hundred Years of Solitude” is one of the biggest TV and streaming premieres this month. Check out our December calendar for more!