9. A Hundred Years of Solitude By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Spanning generations, A Hundred Years of Solitude is a tour de force of magical realism and thematic complexity seen through the eyes of the Buendía family. The story concerns the founding of the mythical city of "Macondo", a city of mirrors (and allegorical references to modern Colombia), that serves to reveal the perceptions of the family to their surrounding environment and to each other. A satire on Spanish colonisation, the major characters are plagued by visiting phantoms and are unable to escape the torments of their pasts A Hundred Years of Solitude would require a fantastically audacious Hollywood remake; controversial, sacrilegious and stupid. It is surely one of the last remaining Everests of contemporary filmmaking. But could the Gringos do this South American hymn of a story justice? The book is deeply cerebral and so infatuated with history repeating itself through the familial traits of dysfunction and perception, its hard to visualise any screen translation. The novels obsession with temporal flows is another obstacle. Even A Hundred Years of Solitudes overarching theme, that of solitude and its capacity to offer both happiness and greed to its owner, is pretty dense, unfilmable stuff. And without that central theme, what could possibly be the point of any adaptation? Any movie version would need to focus on a few of its central themes rather than showing the mellifluous mixture of its many spices. Gael Garcia Bernal as the head of the Buendia family? I doubt it.