«LATCHO DROM» (Safe Journey) (France 1994) (Canadian Home Video rating:PG) Note: (available only in NTSC - North America/Japan TV standard) Price:$19.95 + $5. postage and handling

A "must" in your video library! With virtually no dialogue, director Tony Gatlif presents an anthology of Rom (Gypsy) music and dance from dozens of lands the Rom have travelled in their 1000-year history: India, Egypt,Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, France andSpain. 103 minutes. Original version licensed by KG Productions and France Films. Most dialogues in Romani language. Now available with english subtitles !

 

«GADJO DILO» (The Crazy Stranger) (France - 1997) Note: (available only in NTSC - North America/Japan TV standard) Price:$19.95 + $5. postage and handling

Duration: 100 minutes. Original uncut version in French, Romany and Romanian with English subtitles.

Note: (available only in NTSC - North America/Japan TV standard)

Starring: Romain Duris, Rona Hartner, Izidor Serban and Florin Moldovan and numerous traditional Rom singers and musicians from Romania.

Rating (Gadjo Dilo): This film has not been officially rated for the US market. The Canadian rating system for home videos has given it a "14a" rating: Suitable for people 14 years and older. Those under 14 should view it with an adult. No rental or purchase by those under 14. Parents cautioned. Warning: contains violence, coarse language and sexually suggestive scenes. This rating places it roughly between a US "PG13" and "R" classification.

Synopsis: Stephane (Romain Duris), a young Frenchman is on a mission, determined to find Nora Luca, a renowned Rom singer whom his father had recorded years before somewhere in Romania. His path leads him to Izidor (Izidor Serban), an old gypsy who has decided to drown his sorrows in a bottle of cheap spirits after his son was taken away by the authorities. Izidor is certain Stephane has been sent for good luck, and so he offers him a bed in his home. The other gypsies are horrified that this gadjo (foreigner) would be allowed to roam amongst them. After all, they insist, all he really wants is their chickens and their women. They can't really figure him out, but they warm to him, teaching him their customs and language. The chickens may be spared, but the women - particularly the fiery Sabina (Rona Hartner) - get a closer look at this gadjo to find a man whose journey merely serves to keep a deeper emptiness at arm's length.

Gatlif has already established himself as a master of passion. Not the Hollywood fairy-floss type of passion - but the real "fire-in-the-belly" stuff, felt and expressed by a people who take pride in their culture and suffer for it. He did it with Latcho Drom , where music of various Roma cultures was the real character of the film. And now he has moved beyond that, to the people who live out that culture in everyday life. Gadjo Dilo is a film with a warm heart, and through it Gatlif provides a window into a world alien to most of us. Yet he does it with such confidence and matter-of-factness that we immediately feel drawn to the characters, their lives, their virtues and their foibles. Gatlif knows this is not a perfect culture, but more importantly he knows how to convey life - with all its joy and suffering - as a passionate, and unapologetic celebration. See it and be glad. - Paul Garcia, Hollywood Bitchslap Magazine

Other reviews:

...visually gorgeous, full of lively characters, "heartwarming" scenes and gentle humor... Anita Gates, The New York Times

......warm, joyous..."intoxicating" music and "unabashed affection"..... Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Musical credits: Featured musicians on the movie soundtrack include «Orchestra Marin Ioan»: Toni Lache (clarinet), Nicolae Paun (accordion), Florinel Dobrica (double bass), Marius Banica (violin), Mihai Iordache (cymbalum), Adrian Simionescu (vocal) and the «Gipsy Star» Orchestra: Leonard Iordache (cymbalum), Ghita Coada (double bass), Constantin Fugirica (accordion), George Udila (clarinet), Costel Vasilescu (trumpet) and Marian Vasilescu (violin). Other singers include: Monika Juhacz-Miczura, Rona Hartner, Valentin Rotary, Petre Badea, Valentina Popescu, Gabi Enescuana, Vasile Serban, Ionescu Serban and Isidor Serban and Esma Redzhepova .