![]() ![]() ![]() What might at first seem to be the most emblematic characteristic of the Roma’s diasporic culture is redefined as an elusive and highly controversial object of study. The film problematizes the principle of one individual’s emblematic quest for something that may appear, at first, to fall under the category of ’Roma culture’ in general and Roma music in particular. Released in 1997, Gadjo Dilo is the story of a young Frenchman (played by Romain Duris) who travels to Romania and meets an old Roma man who welcomes him to his village. I argue that the film helps us think about the role of diasporas in Europe, because Gatlif focuses on what it means for subjects to be both in and out, to be integrated yet relegated and to be able learn a language and a culture while functioning more or less adequately in that language and culture.ġ Gadjo Dilo is a film made by Tony Gatlif, a director of Roma origin. Just as the main character, because he is so obsessed by his search for one specific representative Gypsy singer, fails to recognize that he is constantly surrounded by real Gypsy music, the film as a whole explores apparently contradictory spaces of struggle. But what is the precise status of ’Roma’ in this case? Do they disappear when references to their community are removed from official texts to avoid Europe’s disapproval? Is the specificity of certain diasporic groups not erased by an appeal to a classic ’community based’ discourse of European solidarity? Gadjo Dilo constantly explores (rather than assumes) the unstable and contested link between one individual and any predictable collective culture or identity. The debate focuses on the notion of ’community’ and ’belonging’ as well as on the issue of who has a right (or a duty) to move and stay in one European state. France’s systematic deportation of Roma has led to severe critiques: arguing that the targeting of one ethnic community is a clear example of discrimination, Europe threatened legal action. I propose to focus on this work of fiction as a way of thinking through recent political events. ![]() Tony Gatlif’s 1998 Gadjo Dilo narrativizes the encounter between Stéphane (a young Frenchman) and a small Roma community settled outside of Bucharest. ![]()
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