Dom za Vesanje, 1989
[Time of the Gypsies]
Emir
Kusturica's Time of the Gypsies is
a curious, visually hypnotic film: a lyrical glimpse into an exotic,
obscure culture, a tragedy of lost innocence, a reaffirmation of love
and family. At the center of the story is a young man named Perhan
(Davor Dujmovic) who lives in a Gypsy ghetto with his grandmother
(Ljubica Adzovic), uncle (Husnija Hasimovic), and his crippled sister
Danira (Elvira Sali). Their means of income revolve around his grandmother's
faith healing abilities and the occasional sale of limestone to the
villagers. Perhan also possesses a divine power, telekinesis, a talent
that has proven to have little application in his austere life. His
one source of comfort is his beloved Azra (Sinolicka Trpkova), but
his repeated marriage proposals are invariably rejected by her mother,
who believes that his poverty makes him an unsuitable husband. One
day, his grandmother saves the life of a little boy, the son of a
charismatic criminal named Ahmed (Bora Todorovic). In gratitude, Ahmed
agrees to take Danira to a hospital in Ljubljana during an upcoming
'business' trip to Italy with his brothers, and to pay for all her
incurred medical expenses. Perhan decides to accompany the apprehensive
Danira to the hospital, leaving his grandmother and Azra behind. Along
the way, indications of Ahmed's illicit activities begin to surface,
as children and young women, sold into servitude by their families
(or sometimes, kidnapped), crowd into the van to join them on the
trip. Unable to stay with Danira at the hospital, Perhan is forced
to leave her behind and travels with Ahmed to Italy. Smuggled alongside
Ahmed's syndicate "family", Perhan is seduced into a life of crime.
Kusturica creates an ethereal, supernatural
atmosphere in Time of the Gypsies,
reflecting the mysticism and nomadic existence of the Yugoslavian
gypsies: the Roma. The mesmerizing tracking of the opening sequence
seamlessly weaves from a beggar claiming mental illness, to Perhan's
uncle praying to a non-denomination god while gambling on the streets,
and sets the transient, transcendental tone of the film. The camerawork
of the oven scene, as Perhan explains the limestone production process
to Azra while loading firewood, is innovative: muffling his voice, as
if teleported through the chimney, briefly reappearing at the top of
the stack, then returning to the ground with the the final product.
Levitation sequences further contribute an element of surreality to
the film: the St. George's Day festivities, Perhan's pet turkey, his
telekinetic powers, the birth of a child. The result is an eccentric
fusion of comedy and tragedy, realism and fantasy; in essence, an
inextinguishable celebration of life in the direst of circumstances.
Time of the Gypsies is a privileged
glimpse into the soul of a discarded race - of joy and mourning, of
transgression and human decency - a compassionate portrait of marginalized
people, not unlike ourselves.
© Acquarello 2000. All rights reserved.
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During
the turbulent political climate of 1950 Sarajevo, as the nascent
socialist federation of Yugoslavia under Marshall Josip Tito began
to exert its independence from the Soviet Union, young Malik's
(Moreno de Bartolli) only pressing concern is to earn enough money
with his best friend Joza in order to buy a genuine leather football
and emulate the national athletes competing for the World Cup. To
this end, Malik and Joza gather herbs for sale at a local herb shop
on behalf of a carefree and affable drunkard janitor named Franjo
(Predrag Lakovic) who, as the film begins, indolently sits under a
tree and serenades a group of peasant women working in a nearby
field with a Spanish ballad (whose distantly exotic musical origin,
as Malik narrates off-camera, circumvents any unintentional double
entendre that may be attached to the selection), as the boys join
in the dramatic chorus. Meanwhile, Malik's charismatic father, Mesa
(Miki Manojlovic), onboard a train with his mistress, Ankika (Mira
Furlan), returning home from one of his frequent business trips to
Zagreb, expresses casual dismay for the excessive viewpoint expressed
by a political cartoon in a newspaper, before becoming embroiled in a
brief, but passionate argument over the direction of their illicit
affair. It is a cursory comment that would soon come to haunt him as
Ankika mentions the casual remark to Mesa's brother-in-law, a party
official named Zijo (Mustafa Nadarevic) who soon becomes her romantic
suitor. Informed on by Zijo, Mesa arranges to turn himself him over
to the authorities for the arrest - drolly, on the evening of Malik and
his brother Mirza's (Davor Dujmovic) circumcisions - euphemizing his
absence to the inquisitive boy by claiming to be going on an extended
business trip. However, when Mesa is reassigned to a work camp at a
hydroelectric power plant in Zvornik, Malik's devoted mother Sena
(Mirjana Karanovic) is forced to make the difficult decision to uproot
the family from Sarajevo in order to reunite with their father during
his indefinite, mandated transitional period of 'resocialization'.