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“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.”

Do you recognise those words, which happen to be the most iconic opening lines in all of printed literature?

That’s right, it’s from One Hundred Years of Solitude, the masterpiece of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez, which sold tens of millions of copies since its publication in 1967.

It is such a highly regarded and influential story that the BBC once described it as having redefined Latin America, while The New York Times suggested that it ought to be required reading for the entire human race. Instead, Netflix has gained the right to adapt the great literary work into a movie.

Few writers can be said to have written books that have changed the course of literature in their language. Gabriel García Márquez achieved just that, especially thanks to his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude…

Gabriel García Márquez
March 6, 1927 – April 17, 2014 pic.twitter.com/XHkf2X8Hoh

— EdwardMO 🌻 (@EdwardHMO) April 17, 2024

Netflix has had a wave of book-to-series releases that have become streaming hits, including Ripley and 3 Body Problem – which we cannot recommend enough.

However, adapting One Hundred Years of Solitude — which earned Márquez the Nobel prize — is a far more risky and ambitious project, per BGR:

Fans of the work, perhaps, can be heartened by the fact that Netflix’s 16-episode episode series was shot in Márquez’s native Colombia, filmed entirely in Spanish, and produced with the support of the writer’s family.

One Hundred Years of Solitude might be a refreshing change of pace from the kind of content that streamers like Netflix tend to gravitate towards – like the super-violent cartel drama Griselda, which quickly became the #1 Netflix series on the entire streaming service.

Breathtaking in its scope and the power of its ‘magical realism’, the Márquez tale being adapted by Netflix unfolds as a multi-generational saga at its core. José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán, defying parental objections, wed and depart their village on a lengthy quest for a fresh start. Netflix describes the journey as one where they are joined by companions and explorers, ultimately establishing a utopian settlement named Macondo on the shores of a river adorned with ancient stones.

“Several generations of the Buendía lineage will mark the future of this mythical town, tormented by madness, impossible loves, a bloody and absurd war, and the fear of a terrible curse that condemns them, without hope, to one hundred years of solitude.”

The Netflix adaptation is on the way, for which a first teaser trailer has just been released. Watch the opening line come to life:

[source:bgr]