Joy of reading

SKETCHES

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

For the holidays, I took a break from K-dramas to watch the screen adaptation of one of my favorite novels, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude." It was enchanting to watch his characters come to life in an exquisite recreation of the fictional Colombian town of Macondo.

The screen version was faithful to the novel, retaining the mystique of magic realism, and reminding me of one of its themes: the importance of the right leadership in building prosperous, peaceful communities.

For those unfamiliar with the novel, it's about the Buendia family, starting with the eccentric Jose Arcadio and the love of his life, Ursula. They leave their hometown in search of the sea, followed by a band of mostly young adventurers drawn to Jose Arcadio's idealism (or madness, depending on your outlook), only to find themselves going around in circles in a seemingly endless swamp.

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Instead of giving in to despair, Jose Arcadio Buendia decides to carve out his home in the swamp, and calls it Macondo. The hardscrabble community develops and begins to prosper, with no formal government, tax system or religion, although Buendia is always looked upon as the leader. People simply looked out for each other.

Trouble starts later when Macondo's much improved level of development draws the attention of the government, which sends a magistrate to run the town. Now on the national map, Macondo's age of innocence is over. The town becomes another battleground for the Liberals (the rebellious Left) and Conservatives (the central government and the Church).

At this point, unfortunately for the town, Jose Arcadio descends into madness following the death of his dear friend Melquiades.