Love in the Times of Cholera

Our blog features a quote from the beloved, brilliant, Nobel prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez-- a literary figure who has influenced the imagination of Latin America and the world with his universe of fantastic characters.  On Friday, theaters across the U.S. will bring the lifelong love story of Florentino and Fermina to the big screen with the debut of Hollywood production Love in the Times of Cholera. 

Javier Bardem is the lead.  The director is an Englishman. The story: universal.  But that seems to be debatable according to some reviews.  For those who have read the novel in Spanish, we know too well that Garcia Marquez has a way with the language that can't be replicated, is enriched by the imagination and is as if it was made solely for the written page-- he is after all one of the fathers of magical realism.  His imagery, however, can be very cinematic and he has done a lot to promote film in his native Colombia-- though he has said his masterpiece Cien Años de Soledad can never be brought to the screen.  This site has an interesting recap of his works with the medium: http://www.themodernword.com/gabo/gabo_film.html

Some have said the film should have been in Spanish.  When posed the question during an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Bardem had this to say: "I felt, like, yes, of course, you want to do it in Spanish, but one thing I learned with "Before Night Falls" is that if the movie works, people don't bother about the language after five minutes. If the movie doesn't work, the language will be a barrier, a problem."

Now, all this said, one can only hope the movie does well at the box office.  It has been promoted as the love story it is and support has been rallied among the Hispanic and general market audiences: the movie closed the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood and the book is the #1 best selling paperback in the U.S., partly due to the Oprah effect after she chose it as a Book Club title last month.  The film also will have a premiere in Colombia, slated for the end of the month after the primary cast was unavailable for the original date set for last week, and it's been promoted through Hispanic media-- though I believe Hispanic audiences will really need little prodding to support a story for a beloved and revered writer, with a top notch Latino cast, and even some music by Shakira.  I know I plan to go see it.