![]() Otherwise you might be tempted to believe that the gypsies are a cute, merry, high-spirited people kept in cruel slavery by the oppressing Romanians. I found this to be one charming movie but please, do not, by any means, take it as a documentary or search any sociological value in it. I rented the movie wishing to see why would Vadim Tudor, the leader of the ultra-nationalist movement in Romania, be angry at a relatively unknown actress of Jewish descent but born in Romania, called Rona Hartner. For all those who think that trite eye candy like "Saving Private Ryan" represents a milestone in cinema art, an education moment in the company of Stephane and his collective muse will persuade you that true artistic creativity lies in exposing the seemingly mundane banalities that constitute our daily lives. I can't claim to have seen anything in at least a year, probably dating back to "Welcome to the Dollhouse", that has touched me in the way that this work did. One could wax lyrical about Stephane's mission to find the gypsy singer who's voice chicken skins him as a journey into his own psyche, or other such pyschobabble, but ultimately, even though framed by a love story and imbued with classical dramatic elements of pathos, comedy and tragedy, through all the elements that make film such a singular artistic vehicle - sound, music, image, performance - this work envelops you in swaddling-cloth, twists at the core of your soul, and vicariously makes you pursue the Holy Grail of the meaning of life. The plot hardly bears mentioning, as this is an exemplar of film as art, i.e. ![]() The veracity of the work borders on cinema verite, such is the power of the performances coaxed with consummate skill by writer/director Tony Gatlif, himself a Romany, from a largely non-professional cast. This lyrical, poetic masterpiece of cinematic art sucks you into the minds and souls of a still enigmatic, clannish culture, as Stephane, the urbanised, DAT-carrying Frenchman confronts both his own Western attitudes and the wistful, dogged independence of an oft persecuted race.
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