Cernobílá v barve (1999) User Reviews

A Few Weeks in the Life of A Gypsy Singer

[CommieTT · 7/10 · 27 May 2000]

The opening shot in this documentary is of Vera--in her full glory (with a waist that is 143 cm!). It's an odd shot to begin a film with. She's not attractive, and she's so HUGE! But she is singing with all of her heart. The songs are from her own life, and they are rather touching.

Throughout the film, we follow Vera and her band in their trials and tribulations trying to make it as a Gypsy band in the Czech Republic. She has troubles with her adopted son--who recently went to jail. She has troubles with money--since she gets a lot of press people assume she gets paid a lot for interviews (she doesn't). She has troubles with keeping her band together--one of her musicians leaves just before her big show in Paris.

I have to admit, I didn't like Vera at first. She seemed like a fat, lazy, irresponsible woman who smokes too much. But after a while, she grows on you. By the end of the film I felt hope for her future. So, the film eventually worked in portraying Vera as a sympathetic character, in my opinion.

See it if you like Gypsy music, are interested in Czech/Slovakia contrasts or just like human stories.

My rating: 7

Excellent music documentary about larger than life personality

[adamblake77 · 10/10 · 15 January 2006]

I just saw this film at a gypsy film festival here in London. By the end of it I found myself weeping without even knowing why. Normally, I am made of stone but something about this grotesque woman's voice got right under my skin. She's as real as it gets. Almost spherical in shape, cussing and chain-smoking, with an attitude and a voice that Bessie Smith might have been proud of, Vera Bila is a mighty musical force to be reckoned with. The reality of her life, however, as revealed in this excellent documentary, is one of hardship and heartbreak. This is a blues film, about a blues life, and the people featured have blues attitudes - stoical, wry, gallows humour that expects the worst and is rarely disappointed. Tough and truthful, honest and touching, in places depicting humanity at the very bottom of the economic scrap heap of Eastern Europe, this film is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the vitality of the music made by people with nothing to lose but the Romany blues. See it if you can find it. It's very special.

Black and White in Colour; portrait of a Romany singer

[brixtonbathtub · 9/10 · 20 January 2006]

This film beautifully portrays the spirit of no-nonsense Romany singer Vera Bila, her family and her band Kale. Through Vera and her circle we get a picture of Romany life in the Czech Republic in the late nineties, with a foray into contrasting Slovakia. Unable to have children she has adopted a son who's still working through his adolescence. In one episode Vera is determined to put him back on the straight and narrow, so she sets off to poorer Slovakia in search of a suitable bride. Vera doesn't set out to be funny, but if none of the various episodes don't have you laughing out loud I'd be surprised.

Vera is filmed with sensitivity and humour. Her maxim is you are born naked and you leave this world naked; you can't take anything with you. So when she's coaching a vivacious group of women singers from northern Europe she feels that she is leaving something to the world for after she has gone.

This isn't a 'band' or 'concert' movie — in fact my only complaint is that I would have liked some complete musical performances as the combination of Vera's singing with the male harmonies of Kale was superb.

The editing is quite tight, the film moves along fairly quickly, and it hangs together well as a whole. Subtitles are clear, and unlike many non-English films the translations are in colloquial British English, so various off-the-cuff comments come across as natural and often very funny.

After a showing on 15th January 2006 the director spoke about the film. She said that when she approached Vera she asked if it would be an intrusion on her privacy. "Worse than that" Mira Erdevicki told her, "I'm going to live with you for 6 months, and I'll eat your food and you'll eat mine." It worked!