Sreo sam cak i srecne Cigane
Yugoslavia,
1967, 90 min
Shown in 1967
CREDITS
- dir
-
Aleksandar Petrovic
- scr
-
Aleksandar Petrovic
- cam
-
Tomislav Pinter
- cast
-
Bekim Fehmiu, Gordana Jovanovic, Olivera Vuco, Mija Aleksic, Bata Zivojinovic
- source
-
Avala Films, Belgrade
-
COMMENTS
Aleksandar Petrovic in person.
OTHER
A winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Festival, this unusual film by Petrovic (his fourth) is a robust, violent story, set among the gypsies of Yugoslavia. It is not a documentary, although the actors are so much a part of the total, ethnographic feeling of the narrative, that one seems immersed in realism. The color photography adds a grandeur to the events which are, as expected, centered around the unleashed sexual passion and primitivity of Gypsy culture. The director has turned toward the vast Panonian plain, the largest in Europe, where a diverse mixture of nationalities inhabit the Yugoslavian sector, including a large Gypsy population. Bora, the hero, is a gatherer of feathers, and unhappily married to a much older woman. In his travels from village to village, he meets a young, flirtatious girl, Tisa, who wants to run away from her dominating stepfather, Mirtas. Bora manages to escape with Tisa to his village, setting up a menage-a-trois, and Mirtas (whose plans to marry Tisa to an eligible 12-year old boy are thwarted) is furious enough to pursue the lovers. What occurs in the rest of the film is unpredictable, exciting and exceptionally real. The passage of time within the film only emphasizes the fatalistic view of life taken by both Bora and Tisa, who seize what they can, for each season seems to bring its own particular doom. The music is splendid, with the Gypsy songs characterizing the audacious spirit of these nomadic, worldly wise people and stunning the viewer with their newness, their vigorous style.
—Albert Johnson
FACTOID #68
Stanley Mosk, who later became a California state Supreme Court Justice, served as the general chairman at the 1967 Festival.
