Poignant documentary relates the harrowing story of the Roma, focusing on their genocide during the Holocaust
A PEOPLE UNCOUNTED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE ROMA (Aaron Yeger, 2012)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
May 16-23
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.apeopleuncounted.com
“Of course, when we talk about the suffering of the Roma at this place, this is not to blame anybody, or to tell that some nations are bad or others are better,” journalist Marcus Pape says as he walks through a forest at the beginning of A People Uncounted: The Untold Story of the Roma. “The point is that we want to tell a story that might tell us something about ourselves.” And what Aaron Yeger’s surprising and harrowing documentary tells us is not very pleasant. In his feature-length debut, Yeger travels to Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Romania, America, and other countries, documenting the continuing plight of the Roma, more popularly known by the offensive term “Gypsies,” Europe’s largest minority. Interviewing activists, government officials, and Roma Holocaust survivors, Yeger reveals the intense prejudice against the Roma, who came from Northern India, and the Sinti, Romani people from in and around Germany, going back centuries, through the genocide of the Holocaust to today. He shows how misunderstood their culture is, as depicted in Hollywood movies and songs by Cher (“Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”) and Shakira (“Gypsy”), and how Roma men, women, and children are still discriminated against, pointing out that the previous mayor of Milan led a movement in 2010 to rid his city of all Roma. Incorporating archival footage with staggering facts and Robi Botos’s mournful score, A People Uncounted: The Untold Story of the Roma is a poignant and painful examination of man’s seemingly unending inhumanity to man. The film, which has won numerous awards at festivals around the world, is playing May 16-22 at the Quad, with Yeger participating in Q&As following the 9:00 show on Friday and the 4:45 and 9:00 shows on Saturday.