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!
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!