Gadjo Dilo (The Crazy Stranger) (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Filmographies-Tony Gatlif - Director Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Monsoon Wedding, Satin Rouge, Swing, Vengo
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	97:08 (Case: 112)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Tony Gatlif
Studio Distributor	Princes Films Madman Entertainment	Starring	Romain Duris Rona Hartner Izidor Serban Ovidiu Balan Dan Astileanu Valentin Teodosiu Florin Moldovan Mandra Ramcu Aurica Serban Radu Ramcu
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Tony Gatlif

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Romanian Dolby Digital 2.0 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	?
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The last film that I reviewed from Tony Gatlif was Vengo, a film that showed us the lives of the Gypsies in Spain. This film takes us again into the world of the Gypsy but this time in Romania. Again the story is almost secondary to showing us the culture of these people and the circumstances in which they find themselves.

    The Gypsy culture has suffered greatly in the last couple of hundred years (maybe longer). Their culture does not mix well with other cultures and this leaves its people open to persecution. They are a minority and this is compounded by the fact that they often move around (their name in Ireland is the Travellers), making them strangers where ever they go. A combination that does not bode well in places where strangers are not welcome. On the flip side, the Gypsies are insular and very wary of strangers, as portrayed in this film. As soon as a stranger turns up they are talking about him being a chicken thief and worse.

    Within their own culture they are a very passionate people. This is reflected in their music and the sensuality of their dances. The language and comments by even the children may shock those used to more 'up tight' societies. Their costumes are beautifully colourful and flowing, their music wonderfully alive. But all of this is against a backdrop of poverty and discrimination in modern Romania and it is often not a pretty picture.

    The highlight of this film for me, next to the fascinating view into the Gypsy culture, is the lead actress Rona Hartner. She was born in Romania, a singer, dancer and actor. With sultry chestnut eyes and incredible presence, when she is performing one of the Gypsy dances she has the impact of a pile driver, pure sensuality. Then a moment later her smile transforms her face and you can see the laughter in her eyes. Playing next to her is French actor Romain Duris. He plays a young man searching for something, and it is not what he thinks he is looking for. His father was never at home, but always travelling recording various musical artists throughout Europe. He left behind a tape after his death of a woman singing. Stéphane is now searching for the woman on that tape.

    He ends up near the village of the Gypsies on a very cold dark night, and ends up getting very drunk with a local Gypsy, Isidor, whose son has just been sent to jail. Stéphane wakes up the next morning to find that Isidor has adopted him and wishes to teach him the Gypsy language and culture. The initial meeting with Sabina does not go well, but soon the two are attracted to each other. This thread of a story weaves it way through time spent with the Gypsy people. Stéphane is a neophyte and is the perfect vehicle for us to follow as he learns about the people, we learn along with him.

    This is a multi-award winning film at film festivals around the world and is definitely worth a look at if you enjoy journeying to other places and seeing inside other cultures.

Video

    The movie is presented at 1.63:1 within a 1.78:1 frame, there are small black bars on the left and right sides. It is 16x9 enhanced. I have not located an authoritative source for the original aspect ratio of this film.

    Sharpness is not too bad on close ups and slowly moving objects but the image does start to blur on moving objects. Shadow detail is also good but in some scenes the contrast is a little lacking. This may be due to the quality of the light outdoors where there appears to be little or no artificial lighting. There is no low level noise.

    The overall impression of colour is a bit of a contrast. The scenery is a little dull and lacking in saturation, but this only serves to highlight the bright colours in the clothes. The colours are free of any noise artefacts.

    MPEG artefacts are limited to some small pixelizations and posterization in fast moving objects when the objects occupy more than half the frame. A clear example of this is in the ladies' faces at 42:24. There is some very minor aliasing on some of the chrome trim on the cars but you need to be looking closely to see it. The image is remarkably free of any film artefacts including grain, this makes me wonder if a filter might have been applied and this accounts for the slight lack of sharpness.

    The subtitles are easy to read but I have no idea if they are accurate. There are two languages spoken in the film, French and Romany. There are a couple of occasions where there is a small amount of dialogue and no subtitles appear. I can only wonder at what was being said. They are not afraid to translate exactly what is being said and there is some quite rough language.

    This is a single layer disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    While I did not understand the language being spoken there appeared to be no problem with the dialogue quality. The audio appears to be in sync with the action on screen.

    This is the music of the Gypsies of Romania, and I think it is great. A large portion of the presence of this film comes from the music. From the look of the instruments being played these are the real McCoy that we are hearing.

    The surrounds contained the appropriate ambience for the scene being portrayed and contained mostly the music.

    There was little activity from the subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    A simple menu with a montage of scenes from the film providing the back drop. It is presented at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced there is no audio.

Tony Gatlif Filmography

    Two small pages of text listing the films made by Tony Gatlif.

Theatrical Trailer (1:37)

    Presented at 1.33:1 and not 16x9 enhanced and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 sound track. This trailer manages to include all the nudity and sex from the film (there are only really three short scenes) giving a slightly biased view of the film. Still not a bad representation of the film.

Madman Propaganda.

    Four trailers from other films that Madman distributes. Monsoon Wedding (2:13) presented at 1.85:1 letterboxed in a 1.33:1 frame, Satin Rouge (1:38) is also at 1.85:1 letterboxed, Swing (1:33) presented at 1.55:1 letterboxed, and Vengo (2.00) presented at 1.33:1. All accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 sound tracks.

    This is not an action or fast moving film. It is like spending time with friends, with the conversation winding this way and that. In this situation time is not really important and no one is in a hurry. If you are the type of person who seeks out these types of film festival offerings then you are in for a great time.

    The video is good.

    The audio is functional.

    There are no real extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall