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Rodrigo García Barcha: Growing up in that house and Gabo’s world didn’t necessarily make me the right director for Cien Años de Soledad
Édison Monroy| 18 de diciembre de 2024
Rodrigo García Barcha, a film and television director whose most recent production was Familia, said he had no intention of directing Cien Años de Soledad himself, as he believed others could do it better
The film and television director, son of Gabriel García Márquez, believes it was a wise choice to have Mauricio Babilonia as the narrator of Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude).
The Netflix series Cien Años de Soledad begins with two minutes of silence—no words are spoken. We only see the crumbling Buendía house, and at the end, a man opens some manuscripts written in Sanskrit. The silence is broken with the iconic phrase: “Many years later…”
This opening to the much-anticipated series, available on the platform since December 11, was both a way to differentiate itself from Gabriel García Márquez’s text and to honor the work.
For this adaptation of Cien Años de Soledad, Rodrigo García Barcha, García Márquez’s son and executive producer of the Netflix series, says he never spoke in detail about how he wanted his father’s work to be brought to the screen. However, he always encouraged it to be a true audiovisual creation rather than a literal translation of the written work.
“I think many of Gabo’s previous adaptations suffered from too much reverence for the author, too much respect for the work. The decision to start with Mauricio Babilonia’s voice here frames the book in a very good way. It’s different from the book’s opening but remains very faithful to its spirit,” he remarked in an interview with PRODU.
Rodrigo García Barcha, a film and television director whose most recent production was Familia, said he had no intention of directing Cien Años de Soledad himself, as he believed others could do it better.
“I don’t think I was the right person. Growing up in that house and Gabo’s world didn’t necessarily make me the ideal director. Besides, I wouldn’t have the objectivity or the distance needed. I think it’s best that it was handled by outsiders, like the screenwriters and directors, who are also much younger than me. They have their vision. For me, it would have been like being lost in the fog,” he explained.
García Márquez’s son feels pleased with the adaptation of Cien Años de Soledad and believes his father would have been very nervous yet eager for its success. Beyond that, he sees this as a great opportunity to showcase the talent of Latin Americans and Colombians to the world:
“The fact that this was made here in Spanish, with Latin Americans, filmed in Colombia, with actors mostly unknown outside of Colombia or South America, makes it a delightful and impactful discovery for many.”
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