An obscure little film by Armenian filmmaker
Tony Gatlif that is hard to come across at your average video joint but well worth
a little extra effort to see. The dialog in the film is entirely in
French,
Romanian and
Romanes (the Rom Gypsy language) with English subtitles.
I believe it to be about all of the following, in no particular order:
travel,
courage,
respect,
community,
being lost,
being found, love bridging
a vast array of gaps,
art and music,
understanding,
revelations about
human nature and tendencies,
gypsy culture,
loving life,
living life.
The first time I happened to see this amazing movie, it was showing at
Chicago's
Music Box Theater. I was going through a brief phase at the time during which
it was commonplace for me to take a bit of acid for no particular reason when going out practically anywhere, and that night was no exception. Throughout this beautiful, touching,
erotic and
crazy story I was so completely enthralled
I was beside myself.
The following morning I was filled with some indescribable crazed urgent feelings about the world and life in general,
spawned by the movie. I had to know if it was just the acid that had made it so powerful so I drove right back to that theater and saw the first matinee I could (much to the complete amazement and scoffing of my then boyfriend who thought I was nuts,
one of several indicators that he was not the one.)
Once again I was blown away, it wasn't the acid after all that had made this movie affect me so. No, the story, the imagery and concepts in Gadjo Dilo had acted as a kind of
catalyst, touching the very depths of
my brewing wanderlust and speaking to it directly, reassuring me that it wasn't a phase, it was important, beautiful, shared by others,
the lucky ones who know. It was as if all of my
restless feelings of curiosity and desire to experience humanity in all its forms, the knowledge that there was something important and necessary to be gained from getting
out there and
witnessing first hand the truths and wisdom that the rest of my fellow people have to offer..was suddenly validated somehow by this portrayal of another man doing just that. This was years ago, before I danced with the drummers in
Parque Retiro, before I gazed at the stars with
Chemchdha, before I even so much as guessed I would be galavanting around
Klung Klung on the back of
Hari's motorbike...
Even now, when I see this movie again it still awakens these feelings inside me and I can't rest for days because my thoughts are so occupied with
all that is out there and which direction I will go next.