Latcho Drom (1994)

This majestic, French-made film wishes viewers a "latcho drom"--a safe journey--as it follows the roots of the Rom, traveling people better known as Gypsies. Stunning and evocative, it transcends language and culture, bringing together the best elements of National Geographic-style documentary and music video in a kind of anthropological MTV. Using only music and image, without any steady characters or plot, award-winning director Tony Gatlif (himself of Rom descent) tells a compelling story of Rom migrations from Northern India to Europe and the rest of the world. Beginning with a gathering of lavishly dressed nomads singing across the harsh deserts of Rajasthan, viewers are transported through the lush oases of Egypt into the ghettoes of Turkey, from the muddy lanes of Eastern Europe through lush French fields to the windswept coastal cities of Spain. Every step of the way, there are hypnotic reminders of the harshness and beauty of the Rom lifestyle: the rhythms of labor pounding into vibrant dance, the songs of Turkish flower sellers merging with the plaintive political satires of a gray-haired Romanian violinist. Music is everywhere--children barely able to walk dance alongside great-grandmothers--and covers all styles and subjects--from the wintry strains of an Auschwitz lament to a flamenco devotional in a Spanish shrine to a festive Dixieland number that borrows as much from New Orleans as from northern India. And wordless stories abound, told in the smiles of strangers waiting for a train or in the frowns of rifle-toting farmers come to evict travelers from their land. --Grant Balfour Amazon.com

Sweet Dreams are Made of This

Latcho Drom is mesmerizing, the people magical and the music unforgettable.

There is no dialogue, but this does nothing to detract from the film's integrity or entertainment value. Although Rom diaspora has resulted in the Roma living in just about every country on earth, Latcho Drom provides the viewer with a coup d'oeil of the Roma people in Africa, Egypt, Turkey, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, France and Spain.

The Romanian Roma (the two are mutually exclusive), instantly pulled me under their spell. Upon first impression, the Romanian "gypsies" might look like a ragtag band of amateurs. In short order, however, this misconception is swiftly dispelled as these musical maestros fill the air with their art - all deftly orchestrated and delivered.

The women of the Romanian village are peripheral figures in the sense that they are not part of the music making, but prominent nonetheless as they emerge, one by one upon hearing the first strains of music. While the men take up their assorted string instruments as well as cymbalom, flute, accordian and clarinet, the women stay outside, but on the sidelines. There they engage in the merriment - dancing, clapping and laughing - while occasionally stirring the huge pots of steaming soup or stew that sit outside each house.

There is another group shown - but not nearly long enough - and that is the Hungarian Roma. The scene opens with a young woman and small boy waiting for the train. The woman is morose and despondent on the gray, drizzly winter day; it's hard not to feel compassion for her but especially for her little boy who seems desperately in need of a plan to cheer her up. Succor comes swiftly in the form of a passel of gypsies who conspire to entertain the woman from the other side of the railroad tracks. The woman's child mimes them from across the tracks, complete with clapping, knee slapping and other antics. By the time the scene has ended with the train arriving, the mother is no longer dour and we are left wishing the train had been late.

Latcho Drom is both an auditory and visual gift to yourself or to whomever you wish to give it. Most of all, though, Latcho Drom will be music to your heart and soul. It's wonderful.
November 2, 2008

I want my own copy! If you love dance and music...

Years ago, when Latcho Drom was playing in theaters in the San Francisco Bay area, I went to see it as many times as I could. Due to its popularity, it was even re-run occasionally, over the years, at the independent art theaters, and paired with the equally beautiful movie "Baraka" (what a fabulous double-header THAT was). I've also rented it many times on DVD and was sad when my favorite indie movie store closed down a couple of years ago...I was sad for the store, of course, but even sadder that someone on the staff nabbed their one copy of Latcho Drom before the doors were opened to let the public buy out their stock. Sigh...the staff knew what all the best foreign films were and the top three I was hoping to get were all gone. Latcho Drom was at the top of the list. A must-have for anyone who adores traditional dance and music and the lush beauty of the world's cultures. September 23, 2008

Latcho drom: an exploration of gypsy music

A wonderful journey through two continents, exploring present-day music of the Roma people. Colourful, exciting, moving, you see the most extraordinary performances in the most inhospitable circumstances.....Tony Gatlif, himself part-Roma, was privileged to be able to join these groups of travellers and record their very special, and exclusive to them,culture. May 12, 2007

Drop in on a dying culture

If you are interested in Gypsy music and dance this is an incredible look at the culture, sans boring narration blah blah. Because Mr. Gatlif had unprecedented access to these relatively unspoiled groups of performers, the viewer feels like a traveler on the Gypsy Trail, starting out in India,through Egypt, Turkey and through the Balkans, ending with a lively village Flamenco scene. I wish that they had continued into England and Ireland, but that is a minor quibble. Each scene goes directly into the performances, with so much feeling and joy. Not to be missed. November 15, 2006

Travelling Gypsies Both By DVD & CD

The Gypsies left their original homeland in northern India around 1000AD. This much has been established by historical and linguistic research, but the reason for their exodus westward is less certain. They reached Europe by the early C14th, crossing from Asia Minor by way of Crete and the Peloponnesus, and continued their dispersal westward and northward. By the end of the C14th they were already settled in large numbers in the Balkans and Danube lands, where an undeveloped economic structure and primitive technology gave Gypsy smiths and cobblers the chance to compete with local artisans. Early accounts of their arrival suggest that the curiosity and sympathy they originally aroused were accompanied by suspicion and hostlity, and soon their status changed dramatically from protected guests to persecuted outlaws. Within a 100 years of their first appearance, most countries in western Europe had passed savage laws for their expulsion: some even legislated to include the death penalty. 'Lacho Drom' is a wonderful travelogue of Rom music which traces this migration. The music and demeanour of the people says it all; languages that transcend regional barriers. Clearly, by Czechoslovakia, we have entered the Rom estate popularised by European literature's cliches, extolled by the excessive practice of all vices known to Man. The film's concluding lament caps an increasingly sad tale of persecution born, nevertheless, with brave equanimity. The appropriate footnote, if you can source it, is Joseph Koudelka's grave portfolio of Gypsies that was published by Aperture in the mid 1970s. I hestitate to trumpet aesthetics here, where it obviously hurts, but Koudelka's images are some of the most stunningly beautiful you'll ever see. There's nothing vouyeristic about Koudelka as in nearly every instance he's acknowledged by his subjects. And that implicit trust is rarely evinced anywhere, anytime, resulting in a candour that might well move you to tears. September 26, 2006

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