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When the Road Bends...tales of a Gypsy Caravan

When the Road Bends...tales of a Gypsy Caravan (2007)

tomatometer

86

Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 50
Fresh: 43 | Rotten: 7

A dynamic doc following five Romani bands is a pleasure for the senses thanks to vibrant colors and eclectic music.

84

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 19
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 3

A dynamic doc following five Romani bands is a pleasure for the senses thanks to vibrant colors and eclectic music.

audience

75

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 2,702

My Rating

Movie Info

Cinema verité icon Albert Maysles captures the best in very Gypsy music while highlighting the diversity of the Romani people in this documentary tracing the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan six-week concert tour across North America. Featuring five bands from four countries, the Gypsy Caravan showcases a variety of musical styles ranging from flamenco to Indian folk, Romanian violin, Raga, and jazz. The result is a celebration of song and dance that's sure to thrill music lovers of all

Aug 26, 2008

$0.1M

Shadow Distribution

All Critics (54) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (44) | Rotten (7) | DVD (3)

For its glimpses of various lifestyles and personalities -- an ancient but spry fiddler, a young male who performs in drag -- it isn't bad.

January 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

If you have any ear for non-Western music, Gypsy Caravan is a must.

September 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | Comment
Arizona Republic
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The emphasis remains on the personal stories of the players themselves who, for all their backstage squabbling, identify more with each other than any of the countries in which they've settled.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | Comment
Detroit Free Press
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The camera work is always note-perfect.

August 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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If music were all, Gypsy Caravan would be amazing. As is, it's worth seeing, but you may get frustrated at the way Dellal raises provocative questions about ancestry and prejudice...

August 23, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
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Gypsy Caravan succeeds in its primary goal to open ears and minds to Roma music, accurately described as being about 'the rhythm, the language, the feeling.'

August 17, 2007 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
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Dellal's documentary often seems like a cleaned-up, homogenized version of the chaotic Roma world presented by Gatlif, Kusturica, et al. But even toned down and packaged, the music itself has the power to thrill.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment
East Bay Express

[P]rimarily a catalogue of performances, and they are magnificent...

August 28, 2008 Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | Comment
Flick Filosopher

The energy is electric, the camerawork crisp and colourful, the editing note-perfect. . . . for the Roma, music sounds the notes of a harsh, maligned cultural history, making them all the more unforgettable while demanding remembrance, even awe.

December 6, 2007 Comment
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

Gypsy Caravan - When the Road Bends evokes the US tour of Roma musicians whose astonishing diversity ranges from the Indian group with their bejewelled drag dancer to oompah-based Romanians.

September 29, 2007 Full Review Source: Financial Times | Comment
Financial Times

So long seen as ragged leftovers from an older historical epoch, the Roma turn out to be a modern people who have a lot to teach over-developed societies about what it means to be human.

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | Comment
Daily Telegraph

These extraordinary musicians ought to put an end to any sniffiness about Gypsy music.

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Blessed with a wealth of characters, moving stories and roof-raising performances, Gypsy Caravan is as rich as the music it promotes. Fans of Buena Vista should definitely join the club.

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

It's a slow, sometimes grating process for an hour or so, but once everyone wises up to their shared heritage, a euphoric celebration of what it means to be a gypsy takes flight.

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: Total Film | Comment
Total Film

The poverty contrasts sharply with the excitement of the tour bus and cuts to the heart of the songs themselves, famed for their "joy and sorrow".

September 28, 2007 Full Review Source: BBC | Comment

The characters are as lively as their music and I enjoyed riding along with them.

September 23, 2007 Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | Comment

While the backstage tour footage is sometimes repetitive, it's delightful to see the musicians take up each other's songs as the tour progresses.

September 21, 2007 Comment
Salt Lake Tribune

[Dellal's] attempts to 'straighten' the narrative through exposition disguised as the walkie-talkie messages of an unseen stage manager, however, are distractingly ham-handed.

August 30, 2007 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for When the Road Bends...tales of a Gypsy Caravan

(Johnny Depp is in this...?) Anyway, this was a nice documentary/musical about the lives of various Gypsy band members as they make their way to the Gypsy Caravan. It's well made and the music is amazing.

July 20, 2008

This is a beautiful film, one of the best documentaries of this sub-genre (music, stranger in a strange land) - and though it spends a lot of time in the "comfort zone", it's always beautiful. Of course, the music and the subjects are very engaging, so it's easy to love.

December 2, 2007
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Foreign Titles

  • When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan (DE)
  • When the Road Bends: Tales of a Gypsy Caravan (UK)
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