BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

patricia-resnick I stumbled upon this on PBS, and I'm enchanted. I've always been fascinated by the Romani culture and history, and there is so much of that here, tucked in between the songs. There is so much good information here about a people who have been horribly misunderstood and persecuted for most of their history. The movie's approach of wrapping the history and culture into the music, and the stories of the musicians, works very well. The artists, from India, Macedonia, Romania, Spain...all very different, but springing from the same place in the heart. Beautiful, soulful music from beautiful, soulful people. I especially enjoyed Esma, and her stories of life with her husband, Stevo. But I also loved Maharajah, and the other bands. The whole thing is beautifully done. I'll be buying this so I can watch it at my leisure. Don't miss it if you have a chance to see it.

Rogermex Chris Knipp has it exactly right in his comment above. "Latcho Drom" is one of the best films I've ever seen, the ultimate presentation of Rom music, and it's a crime that it is still not released on DVD. This clunker is almost embarrassingly bad. The producers of the "Caravan" rounded up a motley assortment of "gypsy" acts, some good, some awful, and made a cheapo roadshow with them. The camera work is amateurish, and the disrespect of beginning any performance only to cut away to jolly tour bus or village scenes is infuriating. The director had no sense of how to film music, taking either a flat view from audience front center, or extreme close-ups full of sweat rivulets and nostril hair (not that there's anything wrong with that!). The Spanish flamenco act is particularly cringe-worthy. When you've seen great film scenes of major flamenco talent, such as in the classic works of Carlos Saura, "Antonio" and his aunt Juana appear grotesquely clownish. Antonio performs like someone out of a "Spinal Tap" sort of parody, and his inarguably ugly aunt is presented as some sort of flamenco earth-mother, though her singing is less authentic than awful. The only redeeming moment comes at the end of the film when the audience is shocked and saddened at the unexpected death of one of the performers, and it really is painful to watch the friends' grief. Even then, on second thought, there's something cheesily exploitative about it all.

tjlisson Some of the above writers are overreacting to the word "Gypsy." Sure it's etymologically and ethnologically inaccurate, but names for ethnic groups often are. How about "American Indian?"Actually, when speaking English, many Roma themselves seem to have little or no problem referring to themselves as "Gypsies." Likewise, ask an American Indian what he/she would like to be called and you may be surprised to find that most of them would prefer "Indian" over "Native American," "American Aborigine," or whatever. I think some well-intended non-Indians and non-Gypsies just decided for themselves that these names are offensive, without even actually asking the effected peoples themselves.Besides, you should know that the Romany word used for non-Roma, Gadjo, is unquestionably of a pejorative connotation (in contrast to, say, "Gentile"), reflecting the fact that in traditional Roma culture the Gadjo are considered unclean (which is exactly what the word means). Furthermore, though it may not be politically correct to say so, the fact of the matter is that in the traditional culture the Gadjo are to be strictly avoided, unless they can somehow be exploited for the benefit of the Roma. Do some serious research into Romany culture before you summarily doubt this.So don't be so uptight. "Gypsy," when you get right down to it, is really just the English Language name for a Roma person, just as "Niemiec," meaning one who just doesn't understand or get it (and is by inference an outsider) is the word in Slavic languages for a German, and just as the word "Slav" is the source of the word for slave in most western languages. I mean, how politically incorrect is that?

jemery Wonderful music. I wish that film makers would get over their fear of music. Time after time these wonderful musicians would begin to meld on stage into a gorgeous multi-ethnic stew of style and spirit, and bang-o, off we'd go to Roumania or Macedonia to see the musicians on their home ground. There's a place for both, of course, but more often than not the latter occurred at the expense of the former. Then there was an astonishingly bad editing choice at the end of the film, when a perfect coda of sadness and longing was stepped on by the film maker in favor of the big bang theory of ending movies. The musicians deserved better and the audience deserved better.