‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’: Just like Marquez in scale and execution

An all-time classic from the pen of Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ is etched in the annals of literary history. The magnum opus that explores the history of Colombia with a multi-generational family story has traversed continents since it was written in 1967. Translated into over 40 languages, the Spanish tome’s celluloid adaptation, despite reservations of the great author himself, was perhaps a forgone conclusion.

As the Netflix series enters the second season with a climactic high reserved for August 26, we once again enter the world of Macondo and its principal family of Buendias. And what a fascinating realm it is.

The revolution, with Colonel Aureliano Buendia (Claudio Catano) at the centre of it, comes to an end. After the armistice and a failed suicide attempt, the Colonel is but a pale shadow of the revolutionary he once was. Sidelined not only in public life, but also in his home run by his indomitable mother Ursula (a standout Marleyda Soto) and the new addition to the family, Fernanda (a stoic Laura Taylor), he clearly has no place in this new world order.

His solitude is marked by torment and anguish as things take a fresh turn. For new or old, subjugation of the downtrodden remains a constant. The more things change, the more they remain the same. What Ursula says of her Buendia family — “we are going around in circles” — comes across as the universal truth.

As the Colonel’s position turns into a footnote, his nephews, the twins Aureliano Segundo (Julian Roman) and Jose Arcadio Segundo (Emmanuel Suaza), take centre stage. At one point, they might be having an amorous alliance with the same woman but are as different as chalk and cheese. If Aureliano’s obsession over a woman becomes his nemesis, Jose is undone by his grand ambition to connect his hometown with the rest of the world through a rail line. In their tales, the series connects the personal with the political.

If magic realism is an underlying thread, the eeriness of how it cuts close to the bone is what makes it chilling. The social and political consciousness of the narrative is matched by the captivating family dynamics. Love stories of different generations hold attention as much as their struggles and conflicts.

The series continues to entice, enrapture and embrace you with its magnificent sweep. Events unfold both within the family and in the fictitious town of Macondo, not at breakneck speed but with fair enough cadence. Editing by Miguel Schverdfinger, Irene Blecua and Jonathan Pellicer is sharp and blends the two worlds, within the family and the one outside, for a key member, Jose, is out there in the thick of events. Macondo is but a microcosm, a reflection of the whole.

As the timeline shifts, desolation begins to haunt and each member battles his/her own loneliness. From Aureliano’s religiously orthodox wife to his spirited daughter to the spinster aunt, all face the consequences of their choices. And then there is Remedios the Beauty (Daniella Reyes), who walks around naked and represents all that is pure and innocent in us. Symbolism is obvious but not heavy enough to throw you off the rails. In this complex interplay of incidents, the second last episode, out of the seven aired so far, is evocative and gut-wrenching.

It also reminds how the unbridled use of power can usurp the legitimate rights of those on the wrong side of the divide. The adroit world building, from the stunning cinematography to precise sets and costumes to a multihued musical score, transports you; you don’t just remain a witness but become an in-house resident of Macondo. The bygone era it creates is at once real and surreal, fantastical and fantastic, fablesque yet resonating in a world we inhabit today.

In the finale, would yet another illegitimate child in the family break the chains of destiny? Climaxing at an interjection where his great-grandmother beseeches him to “find your way” and grandmother reprimands him with “no one will ever know about you”, the tale spawning many generations will hopefully end in optimism.

Irrespective of the turn it takes, this TV adaptation would linger long after its characters bid adieu literally and metamorphically. If the ensemble cast playing a range of enchanting characters is superb, the wordplay, as expected, is superlative, evident in gems like “they began to sabotage the sabotage”. But nothing can play havoc with your engagement quotient.

The series is not just ambitious in intent but rises to meet ambition in letter and spirit, and isn’t merely a bookish adaptation. Epic in scale and execution.