A Gypsy family travels the French roads during the Second World War, followed by Little Claude, a young boy seeking a new family after his parents "left and never returned". Upon reaching a town where they traditionally stop for a few months and work in vineyards, they learn that a new law forbids them from being nomadic. Theodore, the town's mayor, and Miss Lundi, the schoolteacher, protect and help the Gypsies. Despite this, They are arrested and placed in an internment camp. Theodore manages to rescue them and gives them a piece of property where they must settle. But the Gypsies' deeply ingrained thirst for freedom makes this sedentary lifestyle difficult to bear. After Theodore and Miss Lundi are arrested for resistance, the Gypsies decide they must get back on the move in order to remain free.
Direction
Gatlif's intimate, music-soaked storytelling.
Score
Flamenco and Romani rhythms as emotional language.
Acting
Thierrée's feral, heartbreaking Taloche.
Director
Tony Gatlif
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gatlif himself is of Romani descent; this film continues his decades-long project of centering nomadic lives against French institutional erasure.
The internment camps depicted were real—thousands of Romani people were interned in France during WWII, a history still barely taught in schools.
FR
