Gadjo Dilo

France / Romania 1997, 97 minutes
Dir. Tony Gatlif
In Romanian, French with English subtitles
Rating: [M]
Genres: Foreign Cinema, Drama / Romance

Feat. Romain Duris, Rona Harther, Izidor Serban

Aroview: Re-casting a spotlight onto the poor and downtrodden yet spiritually rich gypsy culture, film-maker/musician Toni Gatlif grafts a bitter-but-mostly-sweet story onto the distinguishing elements of his popular doco, LATCHO DROM.

Defying the language barrier, a French drifter's search for a legendary folk singer carries him to rural Romania, where he is 'adopted' by a village of gypsys and falls in love with a lusty peasant girl. The vivacious romantic leads head a cast of real-life gypsys, whose gregarious culture and passion for music and dance (not to mention the bottle) is captured with great empathy and anthropological detail.

NZ International Film Festival 1998