‘Vengo’: A Stylized Look at Gypsy Life

The passionate, compelling “Vengo,” the latest film of veteran Gypsy writer-director Tony Gatlif, takes us into the proud and dangerous world of rival Spanish Gypsy clans whose obsession with vengeance is reflected in flamenco, their intoxicating music and dance. This highly stylized film, set in present-day Andalusia, might as well be set in antiquity, so consumed are its people with dying for their honor.

Caco (celebrated flamenco dancer Antonio Canales), the leader of his clan, is enough of a man of the modern world to want to end the Gypsy allegiance to the vendetta, but he realizes this will be virtually impossible.

Caco has witnessed the killing of his own daughter; Caco’s brother has killed a member of the rival Caravacas clan; and now the brother’s son Diego (Orestes Villasan Rodriguez) has been targeted. Caco has transferred the love of his late daughter to Diego, a handsome, sweet-natured youth afflicted by cerebral palsy. The happy and active Diego is so poignant in his vulnerability that Caco resolves to end the slaughter.

It takes quite a while to pick up the thread of this narrative and hold on to it, for while essentially simple in plot, “Vengo” is hard to follow because there are so many members of both warring clans.

It is best to let this stunning film simply wash over you and trust that all will become clear enough in time. “Vengo” in a sense is a concert film tied together with the slenderest of plots.

Gatlif was born in Algeria in 1948 to Spanish Gypsies and has long been based--but not tied to--France, and his background is perfect for celebrating the flamenco, which drew from Spain’s rich, tumultuous history to create a folk music that melds Gypsy, Hebrew, Moorish and Andalusian traditions to become the voice of the impoverished and dispossessed. Gatlif immerses himself and the viewer in this world to such an extent that we share his feeling of experiencing the story from within as it unfolds.

We can therefore more easily feel the thrust of its tragic inevitability; if we could see it only from the outside, its all-consuming concern for revenge might seem merely self-destructive and anachronistic. That Caco can see both points of view at once is the source of the film’s considerable impact and dimension.

Gatlif has said that he chose singers, dancers and musicians rather than actors for his film in the belief that it was better that they embody the spirit of the flamenco rather than to try to act a part, an approach that works exceedingly well.

Among those heard and seen performing at various Gypsy gatherings and festivities throughout the film are Tomatito, Sheikh Ahmad al Tuni, La Caita, Gritos de Guerra, Remedios Silva Pisa and La Paquera de Jerez. Amid the splendor of ancient buildings and stretches of parched desert, “Vengo” casts .its heady, fatalistic spell.

Unrated. Times guidelines: revenge bloodshed and violence; unsuitable for children.

‘Vengo’

Antonio Canales: Caco

Orestes Villasan Rodriguez: Diego

Antonio Perez Dechent: Primo Alejandro

Bobote: Primo Antonio

A Cowboy Booking International release of a Code Red and Princes Films presentation. Writer-director Tony Gatlif. Adaptation and dialogues with the collaboration of David Trueba. Cinematographer Thierry Pouget. Editor Pauline Dairou. Musicians Tomatito, Sheikh Ahmad al Tuni, La Caita, Gritos de Guerra, Remedios Sillva Pisa, La Paquera de Jerez. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.

Exclusively at the Music Hall, 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 274-6869.