Tony Gatlif is known for his films describing life of Gypsies, out or which Vengo is probably the most successful. Riding on the remains of the wave started by Kusturica his is now taking upon the area at the North of the Balkans, the Western province of Romania known as Transylvania. His story is a romance with the main character - Zingarina, an Italian girl traveling in search of the musician lover who seduced and made her pregnant. When the lover proves to be a jerk she is in shock, and then finds true love in the arms of a Turkish speculator trafficking things across Europe in an old car.
Gatlif filmed his movie on location in Romania, with the help of a Romanian crew, used the services of Romanian or Roma musicians in the area, but made a strange artistic choice. He broke his filmed material into small pieces and then re-built a mosaic of his own. This would be a valid choice if the filmed was named something else, but being named 'Transylvania' it does shock anybody who is familiar with the area, the folklore, the national componence by its lack of authenticity. This is not real Transylvania, this is an imaginary country.
Romanian critics or viewers on IMDb have criticized the movie for this lack of authenticity, and for presenting a false image of the area. In reality Transylvania is a vibrant area, the most developed in Romania, home of Romanian, Hungarian, German and Gypsies, with cities that could well fit in Austria or Germany while the movie presents it as an almost deserted land drowning in cold and haunted by nomads. The critics are probably right, but for me the major problem is that if they had stuck to the authentic culture of the area the authors could have made a much better film. The area does have a fascinating mix of folklore and original habits, and there was no need to invent things.
What is left is not really a bad movie though. Putting aside the illogical mix of languages the two main actors are well cast and the cinematography is good. The slow sliding of Zingarina into gypsiness hints to the idea that if Romania joined the European Union, it is the Western girl who joins the Eastern Europe, the process of Europenization not being necessarily one way. Gatlif's Transylvania lacks connection to the true one, but it's not an uninteresting place.
Gatlif filmed his movie on location in Romania, with the help of a Romanian crew, used the services of Romanian or Roma musicians in the area, but made a strange artistic choice. He broke his filmed material into small pieces and then re-built a mosaic of his own. This would be a valid choice if the filmed was named something else, but being named 'Transylvania' it does shock anybody who is familiar with the area, the folklore, the national componence by its lack of authenticity. This is not real Transylvania, this is an imaginary country.
Romanian critics or viewers on IMDb have criticized the movie for this lack of authenticity, and for presenting a false image of the area. In reality Transylvania is a vibrant area, the most developed in Romania, home of Romanian, Hungarian, German and Gypsies, with cities that could well fit in Austria or Germany while the movie presents it as an almost deserted land drowning in cold and haunted by nomads. The critics are probably right, but for me the major problem is that if they had stuck to the authentic culture of the area the authors could have made a much better film. The area does have a fascinating mix of folklore and original habits, and there was no need to invent things.
What is left is not really a bad movie though. Putting aside the illogical mix of languages the two main actors are well cast and the cinematography is good. The slow sliding of Zingarina into gypsiness hints to the idea that if Romania joined the European Union, it is the Western girl who joins the Eastern Europe, the process of Europenization not being necessarily one way. Gatlif's Transylvania lacks connection to the true one, but it's not an uninteresting place.