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List Price: $26.95 | | Label: DOCURAMA
Salesrank: 22207
Released: August 26, 2008 |
| Our Price: $7.92 |
| Used Price: $7.91 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
An audience favorite at film festivals worldwide, GYPSY CARAVAN is a dazzling display of the musical world of the Roma, juxtaposed to the real world they live in. Five bands from four countries unite for the World Music Institute s Gypsy Caravan 6-week concert tour across North America with the musicians astounding every audience they meet. Their musical styles range from flamenco to brass band, from Romanian violin and Indian folk to Raga and jazz. And with fire in their bellies and soul in their voices, they present an explosion of song and dance that celebrates the best of Gypsy music and the diversity of the Romani people.
Shot by cinema verité icon Albert Maysles, the film takes place during the USA tour as well as on location in Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain, the tales of these characters unfold and are woven between their performances, reflecting the imagery and emotion of the music. GYPSY CARAVAN is a Romani celebration that will leave your toes tapping, your heart pumping, and your soul uplifted.
Description of Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends:
The astonishing variety of music made by the folks known as the Romani is spotlighted in Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends... (the title references a Gypsy proverb: "You cannot walk straight when the road bends"). Such diversity isn’t surprising, considering the history of these most peripatetic people, who are also known as Rom, Roma, or simply Gypsies. As writer-producer-director Jasmine Dallal’s film tells us, they originated in India, but began migrating a millennium ago, ending up both everywhere (primarily Europe, but scattered across the rest of the globe as well) and nowhere (Gypsies have no homeland; as one puts it, "We never went to war, never occupied any country, and never harmed anyone," and yet they are among the world’s most mistrusted and persecuted peoples). The one thing they’ve always had, however, is music, and plenty of it. Originally released in 2006, the film chronicles a six-week trip on which five bands from four countries performed in New York, Toronto, San Francisco, Austin, Ann Arbor, and other North American cities. The musicians are all excellent, but several stand out. Macedonia’s Esma Redzepova, a force of nature known as the Queen of the Gypsies, has an amazingly supple voice and a wailing power that regularly reduces audience members to tears, while two Romanian groups, Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia, combine a mind-boggling array of sounds (the short list includes everything from polka and klezmer to country, bluegrass, and Dixieland) to wild, electrifying, and occasionally rather nutty effect; other artists include India’s Maharajah, whose show includes a young male dancer who appears in female dress and makeup, and an exciting flamenco ensemble from Spain. The documentary also takes us to their respective homelands, which adds considerably to our understanding of this fiery, soulful culture (as do the bonus features, which include uncut performances by the principals as well as off-stage turns by them and various others). A side note: one of the cinematographers is Albert Maysles, whose previous work includes Monterey Pop and documentaries about the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many others. --Sam Graham
Gypsy Caravan: When the Road Bends Reviews:
So glad to have this! 
2009-03-31 - This documentary, which chronicles a concert tour of amazingly talented Roma people from several different countries, is already a favorite at our house. There are too many "good" parts to mention them all, but here are a few: Gypsy Esma, both singing and reminiscing; a fabulous aunt(Juana)-nephew Flamenco duo; Nikolai the Romanian elder statesman of the violin; a young Indian man who dances quite remarkably on his knees; there's even an interview with Johnny Depp recounting his experiences while making the film, "The Man Who Cried." I was so inspired after watching this that I bought DVDs of both The Man Who Cried and Gadjo Dilo.
Nice music but shallow exploration of Roma predicament 
2009-02-12 - This is the Roma version of "The Buena Vista Social Club." It follows a six-week, cross-country tour of the United States and Canada of five gypsy bands, two from Romania and the others from Macedonia, Spain and India. At almost two hours, it's too long. We get to see them perform, hear the wide variety of their music and we get to know the musicians and see them in their homes.
The music is pretty good for those who like this kind of thing but the discussion of the problems facing Roma is very superficial and avoids the big issues.
Having lived in Romania for a year, I know a little about these problems. Roma live in great poverty and suffer from some of the same problems as Native Americans -- high degrees of unemployment and abuse of drugs and alcohol. One sees their very young children begging in the streets every day, pestering passersby with great persistence. I was attacked and bitten by a Roma dog guarding an abandoned building in which they were squatting. There is also the big stereotype -- thievery. Of course not all gypsies are thieves -- far from it. But some are. One can find them picking pockets in almost every railroad station in Europe.
This movie does show the son of one of the Romanian musicians getting married to a 13-year-old girl who sits at the wedding smoking furiously. This passes without any comment as if it's totally normal and acceptable.
Bottom line: watch this movie for the music, not for the insight.
SUPERB
2008-07-18 - GYPSY CARAVAN is a superb film that transports you to distinctly different corners of the globe musically, while traveling the United States on a journey led by five amazing "Gypsy" musical groups who are often separated by language, but connected by culture. The cinematography is rich and the sensitivity that Jasmine Dellal brings to her project is infectious and you embrace each of the five bands and dancers. As Margaret Meade was quoted as saying, "It's the parallels in cultures that connect us." This film easily delivers and I would place it on my personal top ten list for documentary features!
Spirit Music
2008-07-15 - Thoroughly enjoyed this movie. An incredible capture of different gypsy cultures and their music (they're really ONE culture, that has spread out through Western Europe and the Middle East). Having grown up in southern Spain and attended elementary school and high-school there, this movie quite moved me. It flooded me with all sorts of memories and emotions, of a people very enlightened, who almost intentionally reject this
"cerebral era" that we live in, and choose to look towards miracles in every day life.
Having sat in elementary school with numerous gypsy kids it was great to watch these groups of gypsies traveling through the U.S. on tour. In multiple instances I burst out into laughter watching them interact with our American culture.
To end my review and most importantly, this movie is about music. Gypsy music. Which is pure spirit and emotion. I hope you enjoy this movie.
Joyous
2008-06-06 - The premise here is very simple: 4 countries, 5 bands, and a 6 week tour of the US/Canada circa 2001 by filmmaker Jasmine Dellal ("American Gypsy: A Stranger In Everybody's Land"). The bands represent different styles of Roma/Gypsy music coming together at a crossroads of diasporic jamming. This film has the feel of "Festival Express" meets "The Last Waltz", but with better music and some awe inspiring stage performances!
The bands come from Rajasthan, India (Maharajah), Macedonia (Esma Redzepova/Ensemble Teodosievski), Spain (Antonio El Pipa), and two are from Romania (Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia). For those who've seen the films of Tony Gatlif, Emir Kusturica, or the films "The Man Who Cried" and "Borat", the Romanian bands will sound very familiar to you because their music has been featured in these films. The sounds represent flamenco, brass, orchestra-ensemble, strings, laments, and ragas...an incredibly mixed bag over the Romani diaspora and even centuries. As for the dance, amazing.
It must be said that the music is phenomenal, these musicians give truly transcendent performances. For me, it's the interactions between these acts and the glimpses into their respective lives/homelands that take this from being just another concert film to a pure delight. There's so much joy here...joy in the music and with each other and the joy given to the audiences watching. You get to see where the music comes from in terms of experiences and history....how each land influenced it's musicians as much as the musician have influenced it.
These folks really had great fun and enjoyed each other's company, this is evident and great to watch. They seemed so intrigued by the music of their counterparts and so interested in the similarities to their own. The band that seemed most popular and intriguing to all the musicians were the Rajasthanis, Maharajah, who brought the roots. All of this mutual interest produced a not-to-be-missed jam-filled finale.
As for Johnny Depp, he's in this documentary for about 2-3 minutes. He appears in connection with the band Taraf de Haidouks. He counted them as friends and he worked with them on "The Man Who Cried" becoming a huge fan and acquiring a fedora habit. They appeared at The Viper Room. He wanted his name to not appear in promotion of this film for fear of overshadowing it. It's not about him, so Depp fans buy this knowing it's 3 mins of him and 2 hrs of great Roma music. Nicolae Neascu, the leader of Taraf de Haidouks, has a rather amusing comment on the subject. The Taraf seem to have gained a few more famous admirers in Iggy Pop and Jim Jarmusch via JD.
This film is a wonderful introduction to Roma/Gypsy music and very entertaining in general. Watching this has definitely made me seek out more of the artists' work and led to deeper interest in Roma cultures and people. This film inspires, showing beauty can emerge from any situation, no matter how harsh.
