“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”
That’s the opening line of Nobel Prize–winning author Gabriel García Márquez’s best-selling magical realist novel One Hundred Years of Solitude, which becomes a Netflix series.
The series take you to the mythical town of Macondo with the Buendía family, showing breathtaking scenes as José Arcadio Buendía (Marco González) and Úrsula Iguarán (Susana Morales) search for happiness.
Claudio Cataño, who felt an “enormous responsibility” in playing Colonel Aureliano, said that it was “an honor and a risk” to take on the role. He adds, “Macondo and its host of characters, who I truly feel as my own blood, are universal, but at the same time so unique; so from Colombia, so beautifully tragic that it is impossible not to be trapped in this world.”
What is One Hundred Years of Solitude about?
The story follows cousins José and Úrsula, who get married against their parents’ wishes and leave their village to embark on a long journey in search of a new home. Accompanied by friends and adventurers, their voyage culminates with the founding of a utopian town on the banks of a river of prehistoric stones that they baptize Macondo. Several generations of the Buendía lineage will shape the future of this mythical town, tormented by madness, impossible loves, a bloody and absurd war, and a terrible curse that condemns them, without hope, to 100 years of solitude.
Bringing the mythical town’s magical elements to life was a “huge challenge for everyone involved,” Cataño says. “I think the scripts and the direction combine both aspects of magic and humanity, of exuberance and realism. From the performing side of it, it was an arduous and exquisite pleasure.”
García Márquez’s novel, published in 1967, has sold more than 50 million copies and been translated into more than 40 languages. This adaptation is one of the most ambitious productions in Latin American history, filmed in Spanish and shot in García Márquez’s native Colombia with the support of the author’s family.
“Directing this project has been both a challenge and an adventure; after all, in life, taking risks is necessary to give meaning to what we do,” Alex García López, who directed Episodes 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8, told Netflix. “When diving into the adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude, my intention was to create something authentic that carries the stature of an international production, because the story deserves it.”
Laura Mora, who helmed Episodes 4, 5, and 6, added: “As a filmmaker, and as a Colombian, it has been an honor and a huge challenge to work on a project as complex and that carries as much responsibility as One Hundred Years of Solitude, always striving to understand the difference between the literary and audiovisual languages, and to be able to construct images that contain the beauty, poetry, and depth of a work that has impacted the entire world. We’ve done it with love and respect for the novel, with the support of an exceptional technical and human team.”
The series consists of 16 episodes total and will be released in two parts containing eight episodes each.
Source: Tudum by Netflix