Mondo

Mondo, was shown here in Australia on Christmas night, and, after seeing it, I couldn't think of another movie that could rightfully replace it. This was a superb film, and one wonders why my local TV guide gave it only 3 out of 5 and described it as "moving". In my opinion, Mondo deserves a 10 out of 10, simply for its wonderful images (the scene in the garden - need I say more). Mondo was a film that seldom used words - it let its images speak for itself and tell the story. The bond between Mondo and the Vietnamese lady was a highlight of the film for me - so much so that by the end I had tears welling in my eyes. A wonderful film - now for the novel.

I thought it was great when the old man was teaching Mondo to spell with letters scratched onto rocks and Mondo scooped up all the letters in his name and carried them off in his pockets. There's something about a name, isn't there? --

I can't review Tony Gatlif's films without some bias. I was absolutely blown away by Swing. Mondo is, actually, a different world. Of hues, colours, dreams and a very powerful story. Maybe one with which I feel deeply related to.

Mondo could be an angel fallen form heaven. His relationship with Nature and all of its signs and sounds is as if he's part of a different world than any populous city. There's no way to know where he comes from. He could be a Gypsy, but he's not. He could be a homeless boy. But, alas, he's not. The story told by Gatlif here is one of redemption from this world. We pretty easily outgrow any capacity left in us to wonder, to imagine, to admire the world as it is. We, as denizens of any big and dehumanised society, become simple followers of a fate that is not devised by our own means, it is a fact of life. A mere realisation that we are in a merry-go-round that eventually will stop. In the meanwhile, we'd just cling on to it and, one day, let go.

Immersed in a world of haste and worries where a simple smile could move our lives into a deep understanding of ourselves, we choose not to. We choose to live it as it comes, no questions asked. And emptiness fill our souls, our hearts, our feelings, that are reduced to shyness, to duress or insensibility.

Mondo creates joy around him, because of his smile, his ways, his angelic power to touch souls and make them see the light. Mondo is not human. He even may not be real at all. But Mondo is here to remind us of the many missing things that make our lives, sometimes, empty, inconsistent and superficial.

Tony Gatlif is a master working with children. His Gypsy friends and actors are truthful to his otherworldliness. Mondo is the boy we all need to be reminded that growing up doesn't mean being stupid. And he's the soul to many. He reaches within and without whoever he touches with his smile.

Nice is portrayed as the soul-splitting cacophony of modern life, where Mondo always finds a way to connect with what matters for the soul. His life, a metaphor of a stray dog's, is transformed many times in front of our eyes in the life of a dog.

The execution of this film is flawless. The music is, as it always is with Gatlif's films, superb. Acting is magnificent, and Mondo is one of those roles played by non-actors that will be remembered for a long time.

By the way: someone pointed out that the nude scene of Mondo is out of place. If you watch the film and feel uncomfortable by this, you may not be normal: that is as significant as the other tens of clues Gatlif gives us to understand what he's trying to convey with the story.

A ten out of ten. Hey!, and don't miss Swing, another beautiful story.

Ovidiu Balan, playing a homeless Gypsy boy, made this movie worth seeing. The movie, in itself, is visually stunning. More of a video documentary than anything, it has very little dialogue....and maybe that's a good thing. Words get in the way sometimes.

From what I have heard, Ovidiu Balan is not French and was deported after the making of the movie.

This film is a must-see, like Gatlif's Latcho Drom. It is poetic, cinematically poetic. There are several moments that brought me to tears, out of the sheer beauty of the human emotion expressed in acting and photography. "Acting" does not sound right - you have the impression you are watching real people living out love in their actual souls.