Cultural drama about a love story between a gypsy (Amara Carmona) and a Payo (Pedro Alonso) and plenty of Flamenco music . A feud involving love , honor and integrity is at the center of this enjoyable film directed by Chus Gutiérrez . It concerns a young man called Antonio wishes to become a professional dancer , but things go wrong when he falls in love with a gypsy girl and gets in conflict with her utterly different cultural background . As the head of a gypsy community (Rafael Alvarez El Brujo) attempts to protect everyone he loves , and his daughter is his main worry. To complicate matters , the fierce proud , handsome Antonio eventually wants to investigate his past involving a car crash in which his mother died and there is a preacher (Peret) who knows about those deeds . Meanwhile , the gypsy clan seeks vengeance against Antonio .
This intense drama concerns about a blend of fiction and documentary about gypsy life . It is a thought-provoking drama that keeps you interested and expecting , including a stirring and exciting final . From start to finish this Flamenco film packs intense drama , songs , exciting scenes with some of the cultural, social, and spiritual connections that are maintained between these two separate but connected worlds : Gypsy and Payo . It is an interesting vision of gypsy universe through a story of rivalry among gypsies and Payos . This is a moving picture plenty of passion , emotion , human relationships and a complicated romance, but love can overcome these differences . This brooding as well as attractive flick can be defined as a thought-provoking drama , an exciting fresco with emotion , racism and a social fable . It contains agreeable and interesting moments , as the picture is more a drama with songs than a denounce-film. The movie explores issues of racism and bigotry by examining the way in which a society reacts to the appearance of a foreign presence, as when a black man is wrongly detained . This issue about gypsy family confrontation has been previously treated in other films such as ¨Los Tarantos¨(1963) by Francisco Rovira Beleta with Carmen Amaya , Sara Lezana , Antonio Gades , ¨Montoyas y Tarantos ¨(1989) by Vicente Escriba with Sancho Gracia , Cristina Hoyos , Esperanza Campuzano and ¨Gypsy¨ (2000) by Manuel Palacios with Laeitia Casta and Joaquin Cortes and ¨Vengo¨(2000) by Tony Gatlif with Antonio Canales , Antonio Dechent . The newcomer main cast gives regular interpretations , the support cast is better than main actors , as here appears notorious secondaries such as Julieta Serrano , Saturnino Garcia , Loles León , Sandra Ballesteros , Juan Carlos Bellido , Ramón Barea , among others .
Emotive musical score including dances , Flamenco songs splendidly sung by a extraordinary plethora of gypsy singers such as Ketama : Antonio Carmona, José Miguel Carmona and Juan Carmona , and the really preacher Peret . The cinematographer, Arnaldo Catinari , is great with light, using it crude and clever , creative and beautiful. The yarn is always dramatic as well as entertaining when is executed with style and the filmmaker certainly seems to have that . The motion picture was professionally directed by Chus Gutiérrez . She is one of the best Spanish directors who ha realized some good films such as ¨Insomnio¨ ¨Calentito¨ and ¨Poniente¨ and ¨Retorno a Hansal¨ both of them dealing with illegal immigration and a similar cast as Cuca Escribano , Antonio Dechent and Antonio De La Torre .¨Alma Gitana¨ is a passable and acceptable film . Rating 6/10 .
