*ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE* : BOOK FILM HONOURS

NETFLIX series adapts esteemed Latin American novel. Netflix has now taken on literary savant Gabriel Garcia Marquez's family saga One Hundred Years of Solitude. [ Cien Anos de Soledad ]. 

The author, who is recognised as a pioneer of the genre of magical realism for his incredible work, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1982.

Despite being burdened by a cultural legacy so great, Netflix's efforts are being proved fruitful. The show has already made it to the list of Netflix's Global Top 10, and that's due in part to director Alex Garcia Lopez's difference to the source material.

In a conversation with Forbes, he was happy to share his creative insights :

Garcia Lopez, who referred to the author with the nickname '' Gabo '', helmed five episodes of the series. He expressed fondness for Garcia Marquez's ability to create a captivating world and spoke of the necessity to immerse himself into the cultural richness of the Caribbean of Colombia in order to do justice to the fictional town of Macondo and the Buendia family.

''I started to see Gabo's youth and his stories and his family. differently. And therefore, to me, it was fundamental to bring that energy to life,'' he said.

'' My biggest concern was how were we going to adapt a novel that had such little dialogue, yet such a profound and unique voice,'' he explained. '' But when I read the first draft of the script,  I was thrilled. I was hypnotized. I saw that we actually had a chance to do this well.''

Garcia Lopez approached the story by way of a narrator, which helped him understand the prose better.  '' Unlike other shows or films where the narrator knows the beginning and end of the story, our narrator is discovering the story along with the audience,'' he said.

'' The camera becomes his point of view. It is flying around the house, trying to find who's speaking, where the story is coming from. That gave us a slightly surreal, slightly ethereal, slightly magical element to the show.''

He also worked closely with Rodrigo and Gonzalo, sons of the late author to best emulate the original story's vision onto the screen. Their encouragement was the push he needed to bring life to a story that he believes will resonate with a worldwide audience, just as the book did.

'' The story, the characters, the themes themselves are universal,'' he said. 

'' This is why the book has sold more than 50 or 60 million copies worldwide.

And thanks to Netflix, audiences are hungry for stories that take place in places they've never seen before.''

The World Students Society thanks The Express Tribune.