Image source, Netflix
photo caption, Laura Sofía Grueso “Akima” plays Rebeca as a young woman.Item data
- Author, Writng
- Author title, BBC News World
December 11, 2024
How is a novel adapted for television whose characters are almost the heritage of the country, the faces that each of their readers has given them for almost 60 years?
This challenge – once recognized by the author of the work himself, the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez - was the main challenge facing the producers behind the television adaptation of the novel “One Hundred Years of Solitude”, one of the works of modern teachers. Spanish.
well this Wednesday, after several years of work, audiences – many of them readers of the novel - will face this version produced by the giant of the Foundation streaming Netflix.
This TV version was an expensive production that included not only the creation of a physical version of the mythical town of Macondo – built in a corner of southern Colombia – but also a difficult process to create the best adaptation of a story. in the collective unconscious not only of Colombia but of readers throughout Latin america (the novel has sold almost a million copies on the continent alone).
That was the fear of García Marquez himself, who refused for more than 50 years to give up his rights to the work for a simple reason: “I prefer that my readers continue to imagine my characters,” he said in an interview radio in 1991.
García Márquez’s precept seemed to apply exclusively to “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and the Buendía saga, as many of his works were made into films during the author’s lifetime, such as “The Colonel Doesn’t Have anyone Write to Him “(1999), “Memories of my sad whores” (2011), ”Love in the time of calamity” (2007) and the stories “In this town there are no thieves” and “Widow of the Port of Montiel”, among others.
Image source,netflix
photo caption,The actor Claudio Cataño plays Colonel Aureliano Buendía in the series.
“Our goal was to show a very real Colombian family, for whom magical things happen.And around that,to immerse viewers in
So starting this Wednesday you will be able to watch eight programs of one hour each (there will be a second season and eight more episodes) online,where Buendía’s passage will be on television for the first time.
photo caption, Gabriel García Márquez did not want his masterpiece to be adapted to film.
adaptation process
In April 2014 the world learned about the death of Gabriel García Marquez in mexico. A new phase then began to find out what would happen to his legacy.
Then in 2019, the big news broke: the two sons of the writer, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García Barcha, announced that the rights to his masterpiece, “One Hundred years of Solitude,” had been sold to Netflix for adaptation.
In 1987, garcía Marquez indicated that, although he did not consider it viable to adapt the novel to film, he believed that a series of several chapters could be produced.
“The first thing that was clear to us in the adaptation process was that literature and television are two very different languages and that trying to do somthing better than what was already in the novel was arrogant, ” says Mora.
According to local media,netflix invested nearly US$50 million to launch the project,including building an entire town to recreate Macondo.
In addition,the customs and traditions that were common in Colombia during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century were thoroughly investigated,in order to achieve a recreation as close as possible to the reality of what García marquez tells in his book .
But the main challenge continued to attract the directors and producers: the faces of the main characters. What did Colonel Aureliano Buendía look like? What did Úrsula Iguarán look like?
“It is indeed very difficult to compete with our own creativity. With the Buendías that each of them have in their heads. So what we did was to undertake a very difficult job in casting and we went all over Colombia also looking for new talents.”Mora said.
After several months of searching, the main characters were in the hands of a combination of experienced actors and new revelations.
Claudio Cataño,from Bogotá,was Colonel Aureliano Buendía as an adult. Marleyda Soto Ríos, from Cali, was called as Úrsula Iguarán, and Diego Vásquez, from Ibagué, is the patriarch José Arcadio Buendía, among others.
“I think that the bet we made, to respect the novel and be fair, gave us the opportunity to find actors who give life, relevance and soul to those characters. and I think that is one of the great achievements of the series”, said Mora
Image source, Netflix
photo caption, Actors were sought all over Colombia to be part of the series.
The magical realism
But it is indeed not only about adapting the saga of a Colombian (or Latin American) family, but also showing that the book is full of special events such as the levitation of the priest or the shower of yellow flowers when José Arcadio Buendía dies.
After more than two years of production – which continues with the recording of the second season – Macondo and the Buendías came to life …and the reactions were not long in coming.