That is the one part I disliked in the movie. Not the intentions at all, just the fact that they throw in a fiesta like that, and it happens in the middle of the night, songs, food, bonfire, traditional costumes and all.
Cute, but seen before, overdone and so implausible.
My thoughts exactly!
shareThat scence just doesn't work for me either. This is not how the Gypsy people live, and certainly they arent out looking for English, Dutch, Irish, and Canadian women to join them for a night out. Totally improbable scene. I would have preferred a scene which shared us with some of the physical discomfort and pains from so much walking and how people helped each other get through that. The whole time we are watching Sheen practically jog through the camino and he never seems to get even a blister, wearing a pair of walking boots for the first time in his life. Don't think so. But hey, at least take us through a sence of intense treatment - emotionally and physically - of the pain of the camino.
shareThe whole Gypsy episode seemed too p.c. The second the backpack was stolen I thought "All they need to do is find someone in the local Gypsy community and explain about the ashes." Because in my experience Roma who have organized thieving rings preying on tourists--and yes, there are a whole lot of them in Europe--will actually return something if it has no value to them, is in fact something they really don't want, and are assured you're not going to go to the police. But the father punishing his son because "This is not what my people do" or whatever he says...well, a lot of them do, in fact. It's just a fact of life. The Roma have very strong, even conservative values in many areas, but for many of them any values regarding lying/stealing just don't apply to interactions with "outsiders."
shareLiving in the States but growing up in France, I've had to explain this sad fact of what has become of the Gypsy culture, and I will be the first to understand, without exactly apologizing for them or even forgiving what a part of the Gypsy people do for a living. I actually had friends who were sedentarized Gypsies, living a good and honest life.
Of course I've been called a racist, just as if I had said the same of any American minority.
The perspective of being invited in a Gypsy camp to share a few songs, food and drinks is absolutely close to nil.
the pc-ness of it, I can agree but the spontaneous party. Those things happen. Especially in places where most people don't have jobs but survive anyway.
I even experienced one time after a game on a weekend in a church league. Someone just decided to invite the team to his house for a backyard bbq and swimming in his pool. It went from that to setting up instruments for the band to play. Then card games to bingo until midnight.
"All wanted was a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi. And she won't give it to me!"
Having just finished the Jack Hitt book (Off the Road) which this movie supposedly used for "selected stories" we can see the purpose of the party sequence. But the party sequence should take place as it would on the road: among a large group of Pilgrims who find themselves in a small village with little space to spend the night, who have crossed paths during weeks and spontaneously put together a night of cheap wine and good food. I wish they had made that scence, not this attempt to bridge cultures that simple does not work.
shareI did not dislike it, but it was not my favorite part.
When the Gypsy father invited them all to the his home, I was
thinking, in most movies they would get there and be robbed.
This was a bit of a cliche I suppose, I still liked it.
I think the point here as that some people know how to live
and related to people … remember he said he had 2000 close
friends … that is unthinkable in American culture, and a
possible by-product of that is that they stick together
against adversity and prejudice and do what they think they
need to do to survive. I wonder if there is basis for this in
the book, and I recall Sheen's character saying to the author,
go ahead and tell the story however you want.