Vengo (2000)

The parched, empty landscape of southern Spain is the setting for a tale of passion, music and revenge in Tony Gatlif’s Vengo. After his brother has murdered a member of a rival gypsy clan and gone into hiding, Caco becomes both the de facto figurehead of his ‘family’ and protector of his handicapped nephew. As tensions mount between the two clans, the threats of revenge against the nephew for the crime of his father are played out against a backdrop of rapturous flamenco music and dance performances. Award-winning writer director Gatlif (Latcho Drome, Gadjo Dilo) captures both the musical culture of Spain’s Andalusia region and the blood lust of vengeance in bold, beautiful cinematic language. Available for the first time on DVD, Home Vision Entertainment is proud to present Vengo in a stunning 16x9 anamorphic transfer with a lush 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound mix.

Vengo

the first time I viewed it I found it a bit unsettling because of the subject matter, the 2nd time I watched it I fell in love with it. The Arabic,Spanish influence really brought out what flamenco is all about. The artistry was magnificient, the actors, the gypsy flamenco has really to be seen to be appreciated. I have watched it a dozen times and it just gets better. Whoever buys this will get their moneys worth. July 17, 2008

An All-time Masterpiece

It's really a pleasure to read some of the reviews on here and to share in the great appreciation and deep satisfaction that has been created by this film.

I think that if one has a personal understanding of the history of the circumstances which tie Andalucia and North Africa together, along with some of the cultural, social, and spiritual connections that are maintained between these two separate but connected worlds, the movie Vengo will strike you as being very symbolic.

There is a lot which is implied and will go right over your head if you are not aware of the culture and history of this region (as well as being aware of the life and struggles of Gatlif as a Gypsy man born in Algeria, caught between these two worlds). Gatlif does not spell anything out for you. He leaves it up to you to try to put the pieces together, and he knows that there are certain types of people, with a certain awareness, who will be attracted to his films.

I thought Vengo was incredibly deep with so much true emotion and so much of the subtle and misunderstood inner-struggles of the people of Andalucia being depicted through a number of overlapping stories and characters: The retarded nephew, the man whose daughter had died, the feuding Gypsy families, the exiled father of the son living in Morrocco, etc.

This movie told the tale of a people and their will to hold on to the purest ("Flamenco Puro!") sources of happiness and joy within their lives, amidst circumstances which seemed destined to tear them a part and undermine their unity.

An incredibly beautiful story with lots of information, emotion, and spirit. If you are open, this movie will touch your soul.

Viva 'l Flamenco Puro!!!

By the way, the soundtrack can be found at the link below:
[...] March 14, 2006

Awesome!!!! Watched it over & over for the whole day.

This is by far the best movie that I have seen that portrays the real life of a Gypsy. Though it is not a documentary, but you will learn a lot about the Gypsy way of life, their music, and most of all FLAMENCO in a very beautiful and touching story.

Your breath will be taken away from the very first scene. Awesome sights and awesome music. What can I say! Tomatito performs one of his most beautiful heart-felt solo accompanied with a group of Arabic Musicians. This heavenly moment alone is the reason what makes life so beautiful and precious. January 15, 2006

Flamenco Puro

I lived in a small village in Andalucia for many years. I am very grateful that I can appreciate this film for what it is, a visual love poem to the place, people and passions of the region as Gatlif's previous film Latcho Drom was to all of Roma culture. Gatlif pays meticulous attention to every detail of how flamenco music and its people infuse and help define everyday Spanish life to this day. It begins with a remarkable homage to flamenco's Muslim heritage featuring a living flamenco legend, Tomatito. Although much is lost in the translation of the subtitles, lovers of a simpler, truly family-centered life will treasure poignant, visually satisfying vignettes of modern Spanish village life. An entire family living together and lovingly caring for a disabled family member. Gathering pomegranates together. The enormous paella outside cooking to serve 50 family members at a christening. People greeting one another as they get on the bus (this scene is from the heartbreakingly delightful short on the DVD which takes place in the sun-parched, narrow city streets of Almeria's gypsy neighborhood.). The cemetery rituals. The painted shutters and lace curtains on the windows. The family's widows - harvesting olives, whitewashing graffiti off the village walls, cleaning up after the previous nights' flamenco party. And the spontaneous outbursts of clapping, singing and dancing that occur anywhere - in the street, under a tree, on the bus. These are all scenes still visible every day; they were not staged for a movie.

The melodrama in this film is no different from the polite, socially acceptable melodramas that play out every day in our own society; reputations, families, relationships are destroyed in a very refined, sanitary, occult manner. The Spanish, and the gypsies in particular, have no concern for such posturing and show what is in their heart for all to see, even if it is the darkest pangs of human emotions. From this comes the unequaled, boundless complexity and depth of flamenco.

I have been very fortunate to study flamenco with an Andalucian gypsy who grew up with and learned from Spain's greatest flamenco artists, among them her most beloved dancer, Carmen Amaya. To understand this film, flamenco, and Spain, one must abandon all attempts to understand it and allow the duende - the spirit of flamenco - possess one's senses and one's soul. Flamenco is not contrived enough to worry itself about a theme, a story line or impressing an audience. It arises from a place deep within the soul that most of us keep carefully guarded and shut off. That Gatlif has exposed it, once again, for us to experience I'm certain is success enough for him.


August 29, 2005

I suppose it should be possible to find a film as beautiful

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. June 8, 2005

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