I saw “When the Road Bends” at One World Documentary Film Festival in Prague. This beautiful documentary reveals, though briefly, a tidbit of Romany culture from Asia to Europe, represented by five famous gypsy musical groups touring United States and Europe. In this colorful film, live concert tours and performances were mixed with well-knit stories about lives of the artists in their homeland in Macedonia, Romania, India and Spain.

Before seeing the film, I kept asking my self about the title, of how a documentary about gypsy music has anything to do with the characteristic of a road.

Then there it was, on the screen projector, flashing the answer to my question.

“When the road bends, we cannot walk straight.” - A Romani proverb

The text was followed by a vague trail curving to–as it seemed–infinity and horse-drawn wagons on bumpy, winding earthen roads in a poor village, probably inhabited by Romanies.

Then Esma Redzepova, Queen of the Gypsies, a nicked name granted to her when she toured in India, the origin of today gypsies, exploded the stage, performing a deeply melancholic, heart-shattering song. Her rare, heart-stricken will make you think that you are not listening to music anymore; instead, you are hearing a sad soul lamenting the plight of the ill-fated gypsies.

(Only the first 27 seconds is relevant. This clip has nothing to do with the film, but I could not find anything else in which Esma sings the exact same song. The lady singing with her is not even in the documentary.)

Not only music, “Tale of a Gypsy Caravan” reveals a serious problem gypsies face in their society: subtle to downright discrimination.

Esma could not hide her frustration. “We didn’t start any war. We never occupy any country, but evil keep coming to us.” When her husband, a Macedonian “gadjo” (white person) married her, the people commented, “Did all the white women die that he had to marry a gypsy?”

At one of the hotel the tour stayed, someone complained to the hotel personnel about a group of weird-looking gypsies.

I’ve never been in close contact with the gypsies given my background: born and grew up in Asia and migrated to the United States, so I am not an authority to speak about the gypsies and society’s discrimination against them. The impression and conclusion I make was drawn from my brief visits and living in only a handful European countries, discussion to local Europeans and their opinions about gypsies. Clearly, every statement I heard was a variation of the following: “they beg, they steal, they loud, they dirty, they lazy…”

I won’t elaborate on the topic, however, because I want to dedicate a separate post for this, and this entry is about the documentary.

If you are interested in this film, check out the website. They have more video clips as well as tour schedules. At the moment, I don’t know how you can get a copy of this film.

Trailer