legork Not having read the book I can't say how close this movie sticks to the story by the great author, Gabriel Garcia Marques. The scenes in this movie are works of art, joined together and put in a sequence that gradually reveals a multitude of plots all woven into one. Long after seeing the movie, the scenes, of their own accord come back into my mind, like a tune that once heard is never forgotten, demanding to be considered the main plot. A man, on the prow of a river boat looks at the approaching land. The scene, without words, only the thudding motor of the boat, feint sounds of voices coming from the land, the brilliant white of an elegant mansion, contrasting with the dark gold of the water and a glimpse of narrow alley ways opening on to a wide plaza, hints to us that dramatic events, now memories, are going to be revealed here. Even now, more than a week since seeing the movie, I ask myself, what I can learn from this tragic story. The town's folk have just celebrated a fairy tale marriage of a young woman. Immediately her prince like husband reveals her lost virginity on her marriage bed and returns her to her mother as spoiled property. The lesson I learned from this movie is that a woman whose honor has been taken away has the right to name the price for its recovery. Her price is the life of the most popular young man in town, full of the joy of life and hope in the future. It doesn't matter whether it really was he who had robbed her of her virginity. The fact is that a fallen woman is dangerous; she can name the price of her lost honor. She chooses him to be the sacrifice, because he is worthy. He is killed just like a sacrifice, stabbed to death in the town's main square, while all the people of the town, his friends look on. I wouldn't have come to this conclusion had I continued, like most viewers, I suppose, to dwell on the mystery of whether it was really he who had taken away her virginity. If it wasn't him, then who was the true defiler? Why didn't she give him up to be murdered? Was she protecting someone? Who was she protecting? Was it the doctor? Or was it someone in her immediate family? Maybe even her father or one of her brothers?

eekemper My favorite book, brief, suspenseful, and frighteningly real in scope and character. Having recently lived through Katrina as a physician at various aid stations, rescue squads into the city, etc. it brought me back to this book and a film I saw when I was in my early teens. It speaks of the tragedy of modern life, where apathy can settle like dust and no one is responsible for their neighbor. The riverside town in the heart of Colombia, trapped in an absurd past where an unspoken code of conduct is barbarously enforced (against even the enforcers' wishes, I might add), is fleshed out masterfully. This is one remake I am desperately hoping I live to see, and one movie I wish I could see again.

evangeline this film is impossible to find...which is too bad because I would absolutely love to see it again. I saw it when I was 13 years old and it made such an impression that I read Marques's book and here I am 17 years later still trying to find it! It is romantic, dreamy and a real pleasure to watch. Anthony Delon, Rupert Everett and Ornella Muti deliver a truly unforgettable story.If anyone know where I can get a copy- see it first and then PLEASE let me know where I can get one!

gga "Cronica de una Muerte Anunciada" (Chronicle of a Death Foretold) is based on the novel of the same name by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Garcia Marquez, together with Jorge Luis Borges, is the most recognized name in Latin American literature and one of the exponents of what is usually called magic realism. If you are an American reader and are familiar with the works of Isabel Allende, you should definitively read Garcia Marquez, who is her original inspiration. Most of his stories occur in a fictional world that resembles provincial Colombia at a time right where the traditional values of Spanish colonialism are slowly beginning to clash with the new laws and customs of modern society.Garcia Marquez writing is dense and, as a good story teller of old, he slowly gives us pieces of the plot, while vividly describing the surroundings and, most importantly, his characters' state of mind. Nowhere is this more true than in this novella, which, as the title implies, will retell the story of one single death.This film adaptation is one of those rare cases where the spirit of the book has been kept intact, and, in my opinion, by changing the order of two incidents in the conclusion, the film has even improved upon the book. This is a compliment not only to Garcia Marquez but to the talent of Tonino Guerra, one of Fellini's long standing collaborators. Right away we are told that Santiago Nasar has been murdered and we already know who the killers are. What we are not completely sure is how and why. And what is not understood is how it was possible for this to happen in the center of the plaza, in front of the whole town.These are the mysteries that propels the narration. And, just as with 'Citizen Kane' or 'Rashomon', we listen to the different testimonies of the witnesses to the incident -- each one holding just a small piece of the truth.The non-linear story and slow peeling of layers of truth will confuse and maybe bore some viewers, but those paying attention will enjoy one of the most satisfying films in a long time.While many of the actors will seem unknown to American audiences, this film has a stellar cast of international European stars, and is a display of the talent of the veterans Irene Papas and Gian Maria Volonte. But where the casting shines is also in that of the main protagonists of the drama: Ornella Muti, as the beautiful and mysterious Angela Vicario who motivates the drama, Anthony Delon (son of the great Alain Delon) as the man she falls for and the yet unknown Rupert Everett.This period piece is recreated authentically, in both the costumes and the surroundings.