<p>This is the kind of book most filmmakers refuse to touch. With ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Gabriel Garcia Marquez showed how light could be like water, to borrow a title from one of his exquisite short stories. Fans of the 1967 classic will have imagined deeply how the bag full of bones shudders, how a pregnant Úrsula conquers the swamp, and how Jose Arcadio loses his mind (or not). They will hence be ready with their cudgels!</p>.<p>Oh, but this series takes the ambitious plunge into Marquez’s decidedly murky waters. It emerges gorgeous, bathed in beguiling sun-dappled cinematography with the plot, characterisation and many dialogues unreservedly faithful to the book. Music and acting (mostly by newcomers) are both top-notch.</p>.<p>A multi-generational narrative set in Columbia, the story begins in the 19th century with the defiant marriage of cousins José Arcadio Buendía (Marco González) and Úrsula Iguarán (Susana Morales). Úrsula’s mother warns her that she will give birth to babies with pig’s tails! An unfortunate killing forces the young couple to set off with a few loyal friends and establish a town far away. Macando is a utopia where reality bends on a whim and no one blinks an eye. Although her mother’s curse does not come true, destiny keeps chasing the family; so does Nemesis in the form of a war that is too long in coming. Still, when it does arrive, it renders everything red — a throbbing visceral all-consuming crimson. </p>.<p>Watch this one like a fever dream and you will feel like you have emerged too — from know not where. Macando perhaps. </p>
<p>This is the kind of book most filmmakers refuse to touch. With ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’, Gabriel Garcia Marquez showed how light could be like water, to borrow a title from one of his exquisite short stories. Fans of the 1967 classic will have imagined deeply how the bag full of bones shudders, how a pregnant Úrsula conquers the swamp, and how Jose Arcadio loses his mind (or not). They will hence be ready with their cudgels!</p>.<p>Oh, but this series takes the ambitious plunge into Marquez’s decidedly murky waters. It emerges gorgeous, bathed in beguiling sun-dappled cinematography with the plot, characterisation and many dialogues unreservedly faithful to the book. Music and acting (mostly by newcomers) are both top-notch.</p>.<p>A multi-generational narrative set in Columbia, the story begins in the 19th century with the defiant marriage of cousins José Arcadio Buendía (Marco González) and Úrsula Iguarán (Susana Morales). Úrsula’s mother warns her that she will give birth to babies with pig’s tails! An unfortunate killing forces the young couple to set off with a few loyal friends and establish a town far away. Macando is a utopia where reality bends on a whim and no one blinks an eye. Although her mother’s curse does not come true, destiny keeps chasing the family; so does Nemesis in the form of a war that is too long in coming. Still, when it does arrive, it renders everything red — a throbbing visceral all-consuming crimson. </p>.<p>Watch this one like a fever dream and you will feel like you have emerged too — from know not where. Macando perhaps. </p>