Vengo

The story is told by images and music. A real semiotic statement and another ode to the love of music by the gypsie people. The film tells you a story about a vendetta and the consequenses of it, played by real people with deep human emotions. A honest document, another masterpiece after Gadjo Dillo and Lacho Drome. I love this movie and it made me laugh and weep, also I couldn't sit still during the music scenes with authentic flamengo/gypsie music. Any musiclover should see this film to explore the roots of spanish music.

"Vengo" is a wonderfully alive feast of the flamenco music, dance, and rhythms of the contemporary Andalusia gypsies of Southern Spain built on a ominously rumbling story of a blood feud and death. Not your usual movie fare, "Vengo" divides its time equally between musical ethnic folk singing and dancing from gala festivities to impromptu "jam" sessions to funeral laments while inching the family feud story slowly forward with the kinetic tempos of flamenco rhythms everpresent. More art than entertainment, "Vengo" will appeal most to those into foreign or ethnic films with bold musical underpinnings. Those who enjoy "Vengo" might want to check out "Flamenco (de Carlos Saura)", "Assassination Tango", "Tango, no me dejes nunca", and the like. (B+)

It's funny that a critic from the new york times could know so little about film. I will not say much except this is one of the most simple, most beautiful stories made into cinema; there is absolutely no artifice, no tricks, and every detail is pure and genuine. Tony uses faces Kurasawa could've killed for. You ain't seen nothing if you ain't seen this. The music, artists like Gritos de Guerra, La Caita, Sheik al Tuni, (seemingly unavailable on record, but better than anything I've heard,) seems to capture at once the joy and sorrow bound up in human life. Likewise the players, most not actors. In fact, the music is so integrated into the lives of the characters, in the end there is no division. For reviewers of respected periodicals, we would explain this is what is called thematic. So much for the standards of education in journalism. Even reviewers who really liked this movie did not fully understand this; like most really great art, it is ahead of the curve. I suppose it should be possible to find a film as beautiful as this, as simple and captivating, but none come to mind. Skip "Vengo" and your life will certainly be less rich.

A family feud involving honor and integrity is at the center of this intriguing film directed by Tony Gatlif. We are taken to meet Caco, a man that is being threatened by an opposing clan because his brother Mario killed one of the Caracava men, something that will not be forgotten until justice is done. Since Mario is hiding in Morocco, Caco is a marked man because he represents his brother, the assassin.

Caco, is a man who loves his nephew Diego, that suffers from cerebral palsy. Diego, who is Mario's son, enjoys women like other normal young men his own age. Caco takes care for Diego to have a discreet encounter with a beautiful prostitute, la Catalana. Caco learns how the Caracavas are vowing to avenge their dead brother by sacrificing Diego.

"Vengo" mixes the action with music, song and dance performed by some of the best flamenco interpreters of the genre. Antonio Canales does a good job in his take of Caco, the head of his clan, and the loving uncle of Diego. Orestes Villason Rodriguez, who is physically handicapped, appears as Diego, who like any other member of this clan, loves his music and women with the same passion. Antonio Dechent appears as Alejandro, Caco's right hand man.

Tony Gatlif brings all the colors of Andalucia to a film and does justice to some of that exotic music and mixes the local gypsy music with Moroccan performers that add color to the movie.

Indeed, not a bad documentary (barely a real film, the plot is just an excuse to the connection of the different flamenco scenes). Antonio Canales is surprisingly good as Caco, and the other characters are of no relevance to the story whatsoever. Orestes, Caco's nephew with cerebral palsy, is actually Antonio Canales' nephew. Undoubtable epic flavor in this escape/flamenco journey. Good details, as the nice landscapes in Cadiz and the references to Caco's relative "exiled" in the Spanish cities of North Africa. Great and not so commercial flamenco singers, such as La Paquera(R.I.P) and La Caita. Special attention to the closing song, "Naci en Alamo".