Arráncame la Vida

I recently began reading Bookforum and one of the most interesting features is a column by Bilge Ebiri called The Moviegoer. In each issue, Ebiri reports on how a novel has been adapted for the screen. That got me thinking — what with the recent release of Arráncame la Vida in Mexico last month to a blizzard of ticket sales — about which novels have undergone cinematic translations in Latin America. Which have been the most successful, the most accurate or the most interesting? Rafael Ocasio wrote in Críticas last year that: 

The powerful impact of literature on Latin American films is evident in the earliest silent cinema of Mexico and Argentina, which were among the first Latin American countries with important cinematic production.

He writes that Argentina produced a movie based on José Marmól’s novel Amalia in 1914. Ocasio lists a handful of films, including Cecilia (Cuba, 1981), based on an anti-slavery novel, but most of them are either Spanish productions or based on original screenplays by authors, not actual adaptations. 

So what are some recommended screen adaptations of Latin American novels? You get points off for mentioning The House of the Spirits.