The Netflix adaptation of Pedro Páramo, one of the most iconic works of Mexican literature is coming to the streaming service on November 6, 2024. And with the upcoming movie, directed by renowned cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (The Irishman) in his directorial debut, come the questions about the source materials. Perhaps the most commonly asked is: is Pedro Páramo based on a true story?
The simple answer is no. Widely regarded as one of the precursors of the magical realism boom, Pedro Páramo is a novel by Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. It was first published in 1955. The novel tells the story of Juan Preciado, a man who promises his mother on her deathbed to meet Preciado’s father for the first time in the fictional town of Comala. Once he gets there, however, Preciado comes across what can only be described as a ghost town, populated by spectres that share details about life in Comala and Preciado’s father, Pedro Páramo.
Set in the early 20th century during the Mexican revolution, Pedro Páramo doesn’t tell a real story but it is set during a real time period in Mexican history and it is meant to be a critique of the unequal, semi-feudal structure of rural Mexican society.
The novel has been said to be one of the inspirations for Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, with Marquez himself saying that “The examination in depth of Juan Rulfo’s work gave me at last the way that I sought to continue my books,” and Jorge Luis Borges calling Rulfo’s one of the greatest texts written in any language.
Pedro Páramo stars Manuel García Rulfo, Tenoch Huerta, Ilse Salas, Mayra Batalla, Héctor Kotsifakis, Roberto Sosa, Dolores Heredia, Giovanna Zacarías, Noé Hernández, and Yoshira Escárrega.