GADJO DILLO |
| CREDITS: Director: Tony Gatlif. Cast: Romain Duris, Rona Harbier & Izidor Serban
France 1997. INTRODUCTION: Another French study of the Gypsy life style which completes Gatlif's trilogy which commenced in '82 with "Princess" and continued in '93 with "Lachto Drum". SYNOPSIS: Young Parisian Stephane (Duris) hits the road in search of legendary gypsy singer Nora Luca, upon reaching Romania he encounters Izidor (Serban), a wily old gypsy who takes Stephane into his village, initially the Gadjo Dillo, Crazy Foreigner, is treated with scorn, suspected of abducting children and molesting chickens, or was it the other way around. Soon however the village comes to accept him and he even falls in love with one of the local girls, Sabina (Harbier), with whom he sets about recording the stories and songs of the locals. REVIEW: Gatlif, an Algerian of gypsy decent, concludes his trilogy of films examining his ethnic routes with this heart warming film which is part comedy drama and part ethnographic documentary. Realism is the watch word here, and to that effect Gatlif went to a real gypsy village in the middle of Romania and dumped his star (Duris) into the middle of it. As a result Gatlif always seems ill at ease with his surroundings, but then perhaps that was the idea. The cast is excellent and although the action is completely scripted Gatlif is not afraid to let the situation dictate its own pace and style, he even completely re-wrote the films second half when Duris fell in love with a local girl. It is perhaps due to this fluidity that at times the story seems to drift. The film is best approached as a study of gypsy life as the beautiful visuals and charming characterisations more than make up for the loose plotting and slow pacing. A sensitive and well-handled study of Gypsy life in the racism torn Balkans. Mutt's Rating: *** |