Cigan (2011) Reviews

• Hamlet in a world of poverty and discrimination

  abbashawk2012-03-21

  Martin Sulik's Gypsy is loosely based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film carries the familiar plot to a rambling gypsy village. Since it's 21st century and the people have more important troubles than honor and throne like unemployment, open and vulgar discrimination, the basic tension is not constructed on the play's revenge theme. It is about a young boy who tries to do the right thing for his family and for himself after the death of his father and the marriage of his mother to his uncle. Sulik's characters are by no means heroic or theatrical, they are ordinary people who want to stay alive in a world of poverty, unemployment and discrimination. They are gypsies who are living on ram-shackled houses or huts, most of them do not have a proper job, stealing seems to be main area of business. This does not affect their mood though, they do not like the cheerful and bizarre gypsy characters of Emir Kusturica films but they also like to sing and dance. Although you feel the agony of poverty and deprivation in every frame of the film, Sulik masterfully portrays a colorful and lively village with its all living souls. He also gives a crucial role to the surreal images, which is a distinctive aspect of his narration style. Although it seems harsh and bitter from time to time, Gypsy is a beautifully photographed impressive and moving picture.

• a melodramatic story about a good gypsy boy

  natalabala2011-08-12

  The story is about a 15 years old gypsy boy living in a gypsy village somewhere in Eastern Slovakia where after his father dies he is pushed into doing things (stealing) he does not want to do. The actors playing the gypsy characters are non-actors real life gypsies and the most of the dialogues are in their roma language which gives a movies very authentic feeling. The movie was filmed in authentic gypsy village in eastern Slovakia. for me the main problem were certain details of the movies and the ending of the movie. In the movie theater I was pleased to see a group of gypsy youngsters that came to see this movie and they laughed at couple of funny lines. The movie managed to kept me interested till the end and I am glad I saw it.