Caravana Cigana

the perhaps curious life of the nomadic Roma people has always been a great topic of interest to me since my childhood, basically because of their fascinating and enchanting music, aside from their free living style ...

so, when this movie started, so beautifully with the nomadic Roma of Rajasthan in India, showing their ritualistic singing and dance and everything in their chaotic desert dwelling, i just felt hooked up to keep watching, and that i did until the very last minutes of this truly great documentary.

i have to admit i had not been impressed by any movie for a long time indeed. well worth the time spent and i'm sure i'll be able to watch this movie again and again once in a while in future ...

this will be a great piece of evidence to keep for anyone as a historical document portraying a much ignored (albeit admired-by-some) tribe's life ...

What makes this documentary special from a film-making perspective is its passiveness; which engages the audience to bask in the delight of gypsy music. It innovates the form of documentary while showcasing a tapestry of sound and movement that invites us to celebrate the primal similarity found within the traveling music of (historically) traveling peoples.

Indeed the film itself is a single "take" of sweeping movement that travels the globe and transitions effortlessly from one rhythmic culture to the next.

Watching this film, one's breath is taken away by the simple beauty in our common connection to music, rhythm and dance. If there is a more deeply spiritual, flowing homage to the sound and movement of gypsy cultures, it has yet to be filmed.

I stumbled across this on Thanksgiving Day. I was at my mates and his aunty put it on as some Quality Eye Candy from the MTV/BET video s***e that annoys us with talentless himbos and bimbos. Since then every Thanksgiving I watch this (alone, lonely immigrant that I am), beautiful beautiful piece of Music Video Edutainment. I am not going to blag about the narrative of tracing the gypsy roots from India to Spain etc (actually the Kali followers before India were moving from the Indus Valley, and before that, this 'dravidian', 'dalit' folk were leaving old Khemet). But here's my observation, which none of the pseudo liberals who watch it with me see. Watch this movie please for this ONE point. The Gypsy LOOK changes throughout the entire movie. From black/brown 'krishna varna' in India, through Egypt etc to almost white Spain. Now these people are the OUTKASTS where ever they be. Hitler put over a million in camps, Franco, etc hated them as well. In England, I remember how the anglos despised them. So they are hated and moved on everywhere, so how come their skin lightens, and hair textures etc changes as they move from host culture/country to host culture/country? Because there must be some race mixing going on all the time during their 2000 year journey. As J.A. Rogers say's in his book of the same name 'Nature Knows No Color Line' , there is one race the human race and we will always mix/integrate on some level no matter what ever the taboos. A good movie to hire for any 'racial' or 'cultural purists' who need to be challenged.

Peace Zeech

This film is a tapestry, a series of portraits of Rom communities woven together by music. It's very much a musician's film, because of the paucity of spoken dialogue - and what dialogue there is, is not important to the structure of the narrative. Some might expect a National Geographic tale of "customs, dress, and music" or a plot-line orbiting a few central characters - don't look for that here.

This is because it paints a portrait of a family of peoples, rather than telling a story of individuals. The plot is the story through space (India to Andalucia) and/or/ time (we cannot tell) of a people. There is no need of narration. You get a sense of a joyous people, strongly linked in small communities where social interaction is very important. And a great sense of sadness in parts, at their rejection by society at large.

So it's a paean to Rom culture, very beautifully shot, with a wide spectrum of Rom music, and a sting in the tail which is the oppression these people have faced, and still face.

From India to Spain, "Latcho Drom" shows the Rom have survived much by keeping much of their culture and yet adapted what could be of use to them. Through their music and dancing, you witness the common thread that binds them all and yet change/adaptation is there to see from the countries they passed through and lived in....as well as influence. Hitler did his best to exterminate them (an old Romany woman bares the tattoo of a Concentration Camp number on her forearm while holding an old photo of a loved one while singing a song about those times.....several thousand died in those camps.) Ceascescue forced many to settle into villages and they are still forced to travel because of centuries old beliefs from others. Still they live much as their ancestors did and this film gives you a peek without preaching and makes you want to learn more.