One Hundred Years of Solitude

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" (2024) is considered a classic and I could not resist it watching the Netflix series.  Part way through I realized I was getting confused and decided to read the book.  The book was also confusing, but  in some ways deliberately so.  Magical realism

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was an author in Colombia who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.  "One Hundred Years of Solitude" was considered a masterpiece and encouraged in schools across South America.  It is the most translated book from Spanish in the world with over 50 million copies sold.

After Gabriel died, Netflix decided to tackle the project in a major series and negotiated with the family.  Not sure how much money was involved, but there was a condition.  The family was concerned it would be given Hollywood treatment, but they wanted to be sure it was set in Colombia and in Spanish.

My confusion was not all that unusual and a team of writers was hired  to put it in a more chronological order and a narrator hired to explain what was happening.  There are elements of absurdity mixed into some hard realism.  Lots of family squabbles.violence and sex are part of the action.  It is well written and engaging.

Not only a lot of money was thrown into this project, but also the talents of many people.  Here are a few of them:

Alex Garcia Lopez, one of two directors was from Argentina, but as a teenager had moved to the United States and later to London, England to develop his film making.  He has 19 directing credits, 2 for writing and 3 for composing mostly for the English market.  Still he felt Colombia had been misrepresented to the world as a country known for drugs, illegal immigrants, favelas (poverty) and dictatorships. 

Laura Mora Ortega was the other director.  Born in Colombia, her father had been killed by a hitman and she fled to Australia where she studied film making.  She has 11 director credits, 3 for additional crew and 2 for acting including "Frontera Verde" (2019) and "The Kings of the World" (2022).

Jose Rivera was a writer.  He has 24 writing credits including "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004), "Letters to Juliet" (2010) and "The 33" (2015).

Camilo Sanabria composed the music;  He has 33 composing credits, 3 for the music department and 1 for producer.

Paulo Perez was the cinematographer.  He has 38 cinematography credits and 6 for the camera and electrical department including "Frontera Verde" (2015).

Irene Bleuca was an editor.  She has 56 editor credits and 15 for the editorial department including "A Twelve Year Night" (2018).  See http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/05/a-twelve-year-night.html

Vina Machado played Pinar Temera.  She got an early start in modeling and went on to earn 26 acting credits including "The White Slave" (2016). check  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/08/the-white-slave-introduction-to.html

Claudio Cantano played  Colonel Aureliano Buendia.  He has 29 acting credits, 4 for directing and 4 for writing.

Jairo Camargo played Apoliar Moscote, an outsider but with 6 daughters.  He has 81 acting credits. 

 You can watch 8 episodes on Netflix, subtitled or dubbed.  More episodes are promised.

As usual I have bolded the first mention of films I have seen.  They are not necessarily a recommendation, but generally I found them worthy of my time.  If you follow the links you should be better able to determine if a particular film is worth following up.