It’s a tall order to depict One Hundred Years of Solitude. Considered to be one of the world’s most important novels to read, expectations were high, the magic realism required a hefty budget, and the sprawling seven-generation plotline felt like it couldn’t fit within a feature film, or around 90-120 minutes. It’s because of this that author Gabriel García Márquez held out on selling the rights, and the family followed suit after his death. Luckily, more than half a century later, streaming television garnered enough prestige and profit to finally adapt the classic. Netflix thankfully stuck to the family’s wishes of having it filmed in Spanish, in Colombia, with Colombian actors, but it also expanded on the layered text in ways video can only do so– like fleshing out the story visually and aurally, having an omniscient narrator, and taking advantage of the medium through editing, direction, and excellent performances from the cast. Cien años de soledad doesn’t just work– it makes it so much easier to understand hype and the themes for people completely new to the text.
"One Hundred Years of Solitude is exquisitely detailed and layered in intricate symbolism. The show is one of the most faithful page-to-screen adaptations in recent years."
— Aramide Tinubu
In the mythical town Macondo, seven generations of the Buendía family navigate love, oblivion and the inescapability of their past — and their fate.
First cousins and spouses José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán leave their hometown and build a new one by the side of the river called Macondo, where all seven generations of their family live, love, and die in.
The way the series sticks to the novel, but also expands on it… This is what great adaptations are made of.
Yo, I did NOT remember the novel being this intense…
