When the Road Bends...tales of a Gypsy Caravan (2007)

86% of critics liked it
(50 reviews)
75% of users liked it
(2,709 ratings)

Cinema verité icon Albert Maysles captures the best in very Gypsy music while highlighting the diversity of the Romani people in this documentary tracing the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan six-week concert tour across North America. Featuring five bands from four countries, the Gypsy Caravan… More Cinema verité icon Albert Maysles captures the best in very Gypsy music while highlighting the diversity of the Romani people in this documentary tracing the World Music Institute's Gypsy Caravan six-week concert tour across North America. Featuring five bands from four countries, the Gypsy Caravan showcases a variety of musical styles ranging from flamenco to Indian folk, Romanian violin, Raga, and jazz. The result is a celebration of song and dance that's sure to thrill music lovers of all ages and backgrounds. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 51 min.
Directed By: Jasmine Dellal
Written By: Jasmine Dellal
Genres: Documentary, Musical & Performing Arts, Special Interest

In Theaters: Jun 15, 2007 Limited
On DVD: Aug 26, 2008
Studio: Shadow Distribution

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
For its glimpses of various lifestyles and personalities -- an ancient but spry fiddler, a young male who performs in drag -- it isn't bad.
Richard Nilsen, Arizona Republic
If you have any ear for non-Western music, Gypsy Caravan is a must.
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press
The emphasis remains on the personal stories of the players themselves who, for all their backstage squabbling, identify more with each other than any of the countries in which they've settled.
Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times
The camera work is always note-perfect.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
If music were all, Gypsy Caravan would be amazing. As is, it's worth seeing, but you may get frustrated at the way Dellal raises provocative questions about ancestry and prejudice...
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Gypsy Caravan succeeds in its primary goal to open ears and minds to Roma music, accurately described as being about 'the rhythm, the language, the feeling.'
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
Dellal's documentary often seems like a cleaned-up, homogenized version of the chaotic Roma world presented by Gatlif, Kusturica, et al. But even toned down and packaged, the music itself has the power to thrill.
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher
[P]rimarily a catalogue of performances, and they are magnificent...
Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
The energy is electric, the camerawork crisp and colourful, the editing note-perfect. . . . for the Roma, music sounds the notes of a harsh, maligned cultural history, making them all the more unforgettable while demanding remembrance, even awe.
Martin Hoyle, Financial Times
Gypsy Caravan - When the Road Bends evokes the US tour of Roma musicians whose astonishing diversity ranges from the Indian group with their bejewelled drag dancer to oompah-based Romanians.
Sukhdev Sandhu, Daily Telegraph
So long seen as ragged leftovers from an older historical epoch, the Roma turn out to be a modern people who have a lot to teach over-developed societies about what it means to be human.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
These extraordinary musicians ought to put an end to any sniffiness about Gypsy music.
Billy Mowbray, Film4
Blessed with a wealth of characters, moving stories and roof-raising performances, Gypsy Caravan is as rich as the music it promotes. Fans of Buena Vista should definitely join the club.
David Jenkins, Total Film
It's a slow, sometimes grating process for an hour or so, but once everyone wises up to their shared heritage, a euphoric celebration of what it means to be a gypsy takes flight.
Jamie Russell, BBC
The poverty contrasts sharply with the excitement of the tour bus and cuts to the heart of the songs themselves, famed for their "joy and sorrow".
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone, TheMovieChicks.com
The characters are as lively as their music and I enjoyed riding along with them.
Sean Means, Salt Lake Tribune
While the backstage tour footage is sometimes repetitive, it's delightful to see the musicians take up each other's songs as the tour progresses.
Chad Greene, Boxoffice Magazine
[Dellal's] attempts to 'straighten' the narrative through exposition disguised as the walkie-talkie messages of an unseen stage manager, however, are distractingly ham-handed.