When we think of some masterpieces of cinema, many of them owe part of their potential to the novels or stories from which they are inspired. Become an increasingly recurring trend in the seventh art, the film adaptations of successful books increasingly flood the billboards, giving these best movies based on books what do you have to see.
harry potter and the Philosopher's Stone
In November 2001, shortly before the arrival of that other great adaptation that The Lord of the Rings, the film version of the first novel of the saga was released worldwideHarry Potter, just when I finished the book. I remember my father read it too, and one New Year's Day we went to see it. My father, an inveterate reader and full of bookshelves, told me that this was one of the best adaptations I had seen. And he was right. Because despite omitting some harmless passage, the first cinematic Harry Potter knew how to capture almost perfectly the universe of JKRowling: from the mythical Hogwarts to young actors in a state of grace. A first installment that was followed by others that, with their pluses and minuses, were also worthy adaptations of the biggest literary franchise in recent years.
Kill a Mockingbird
Considered as one of the great novels of the XNUMXth century, Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee was a necessary look at issues such as racism or machismo in full swing in the 60s. A masterpiece that was further enhanced by the Robert Mulligan film adaptation released in 1960 that featured Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, a white lawyer charged with defending a black man accused of rape. The film, a great success at its premiere, was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning the awards for Best Actor for Peck, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Art Direction.
Jurassic Park
Although Steven Spielberg merged two characters from Michael Chrichton's famous novel and ignored a subplot related to one of the dinosaurs, no one can deny that what happened in 1993 would change movie history forever. Leaning on some never seen special effects on screen, the so-called "King Midas" of Hollywood unleashed with Jurassic Park the dynomania, amassed millions of dollars and changed the foundations of blockbuster summery moving to an Isla Nublar where the ambition of man resulted in the resurrection of the T-Rex, the velociraptor and other critters that were loose causing terror. Essential.
Would you like to read No products found.?
The silence of the lambs
In 1981 and 1988, the author Thomas Harris published The Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs respectively, both works focused on the character of Hannibal Lecter, a psychiatrist given to cannibalism. The one who is undoubtedly one of the great villains of literature was transferred to the cinema with the same mastery in the 1991 film starring Anthony Hopkins in the role of Lecter and Jodie Foster as FBI agent Clarice Starling, tasked with tracking down a serial killer named Buffalo Bill for whose work he was lean on the cannibal. 5 Oscar winner, The silence of the lambs continues to be one of the must-have tapes from the 90s for lovers of good cinema.
life of Pi
Many films have the ability to be faithful to the stories on which they are based and, in turn, bring their own personality to the set. This was the case with life of Pi, adaptation of the book by Canadian Yann Martel premiered in 2012. Because despite skipping a third of a book focused on the beliefs and life of the young Indian protagonist, Ang Lee's film was able to perfectly recreate the odyssey of Pi and the Tiger Richard Parker aboard a boat relying on special effects that recreated flying whales and sparkling oceans. It was then that, for a moment, many of us reconsidered whether we were looking at a better film than the book it was inspired by.
american psycho
Fruit of a capitalist and narcissistic society, the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1991 was commissioned to portray a yuppie psychopath who combines his work as a powerful New York businessman during the day with crazy nights ending in blood and screaming. A work whose adaptation of the year 2000 not only served to elevate a magnificent Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, but to warn us of the danger of a society where the cult of the body, consumerism and power creates a void whose way of filling can lead to the most sinister solutions.
The Godfather
Considered by many to be one of the best tapes of all time, The Godfather by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the homonymous novel by Mario Puzo and released in 1972, it came to introduce us to the Italian-American family of gangsters from the Corleones, composed mainly of a Vito played by Marlon Brando and his son Michael under the skin of Al Pacino. X-ray of the decades of the 40s and 50s marked by the mafia activity of the East Coast of the United States, the tape 3 Oscar winner I generated a second part considered by many even superior to its predecessor and a third released in 1990. Without a doubt, one of the best movies based on books of all time.
You still haven't read The Godfather?
gone With the Wind
Although nowadays film adaptations based on books are the most recurrent, back in the 30s this was a very discreet trend. Perhaps that was the reason why linking the publication of a book of such success as the one that the author Margaret Mitchell published in 1936 with the Hollywood blockbuster of 1939 made the brand «gone With the Wind«Will sweep away. The movie, 10 Oscars Award Winning Starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh, tells the story of a young millionaire from the southern United States and her odyssey to get ahead in the days of the American Civil War.
Cadena perpetua
Based on the short novel Rita Haywoth and the redemption of Shawshank included in the compilation The four Seasons by Stephen King, Cadena Perpetua was released in 1994, instantly becoming a classic from the 90s cinema. Starring Tim Robbins, the film narrates the life sentence of a banker accused of murdering his wife and daughter and who claims to be innocent. A journey through the life of a prison in which, once you enter, nothing is the same again.
The diaryof Bridget Jones
In the late 90s, a feminist wave took over the world in the form of series like Sex and the City or books like The diaryof Bridget Jones de Helen Fielding. Focusing on an overweight thirty-something and unlucky with men, the novel was adapted in 2001 with Renée Zellweger as the protagonist and Colin Firth and Hugh Grant as candidate lovers of this modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice whose box office success spawned two minor but equally engaging sequels.
What are, in your opinion, the best movies based on books?