Love.

Over the weekend I went to the movie theater to see the new Love in the Time of Cholera movie. I thought the make-up was caked on, the acting was over done, and the progression of scenes was choppy and lacked flow. I also felt that the movie left out some parts of the book that I enjoyed, but accentuated seemingly meaningless scenes. For instance, there is a five-minute period in the movie that consists only of Fermina Daza sitting by Juvenal Urbino’s coffin while her friends and family walk by offering their consolations. I cannot possibly imagine why the director thought that this scene deserved so much attention. Fortunately enough, I happen to greatly enjoy the Love in the Time of Cholera book. I think the book is so much better because Marquez brings you inside the characters minds and souls, where as the movie only shows you external characteristics.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s style is unique and captivating. He describes the ordinary events of three people in love with ornately poetic language. He even discusses vile bodily functions like urinating in a flowery manner. One line in particular caught my eye: “The ship made its way across the bay through a floating blanket of drowned animals…” I felt that this was a particularly aberrant way of describing the horrifying picture of rotting flesh that Florentino Ariza encounters on his passage across the ocean back to the country of Fermina Daza. Love in the Time of Cholera would not be nearly as enticing had it been written in plain language with more dialogue.

I also didn’t like how the movie stripped the mystery from the book. It happens almost every time I see a movie based on a book I have read. I have this idea in my head about how gallant a character is or how handsome he is and then the movie totally destroys that image. Javier Bardem, the man cast to play Florentino Ariza, appeared older and plainer—and by plain I mean ugly—than any of the other characters. It disappointed me to see such a crazy, ugly man chasing after Fermina, rather than the tall, dark, slender, tortured, and mysterious boy I had pictured in my mind.

However, seeing the movie before finishing the book did help me in a few ways. It helped point out the themes that are carried from beginning to end in the novel. One theme I noticed and found intriguing was that of learning to cope and developing coping mechanisms. Marquez portrays this theme when he says that Fermina not only learned to live without love, but in spite of it. One coping mechanism that is very clear in both the novel and the movie is the way that Florentino “attempts” to get Fermina off her mind. By the end of the third section, he conquers a total of 622 women and logs them into his notebook. He loves only Fermina, but uses the passion of physical encounters to forget her in the moment. Another coping mechanism that Florentino employs is eating flowers to remember the way that Fermina smells.

So far, this book is definitely my favorite of the ones we have read. I often find myself reading past the required section because I can’t put it down. I am excited to see more differences between the movie and the book once I complete the latter.