June 15, 2011 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 31 ‘Korkoro’ examines Gypsy life during World War II by Dennis Seuling “Korkoro” (Lorber Films) is a World War II drama about a tightly knit family of Gypsies journeying through occupied France, trying to avoid the violent Vichy patrols. Director Tony Gatlif relates the intriguing story of the Romany people’s joys and struggles during the war. Along the way, a young French orphan named Claude joins their ranks and is initiated into their culture. Under the tutelage of acrobatic wild man Taloche, Claude learns to love his adoptive family. After the Vichy government passes a law forbidding nomadism, they avoid capture with the help of a local mayor and school teacher, who also have ties to the Resistance, but the longer they elude arrest, the more dangerous their lives become. Gypsy life in film has largely been depicted in stereotypical terms, but in “Korkoro” (the Romani word for “freedom”) audiences see the daily routines of Gypsy family life, their bonds with the natural world, and the lifestyle’s awkward fit in the modern world. With the war and its horrors threatening to end their lives, the Gypsies attempt to survive with the threat of fascist menace looming about them. Writer/director Gatlif is balanced between showing both the good times and hardships of the Romany people during this period of European upheaval. Many movies show the Gypsies are rounded up by the police during World War II in ‘Korkoro.’ horrors of the Holocaust on the Jewish people, but “Korkoro” illustrates that the Nazis’ murderous hand extended to other victims as well. The film, available on DVD, is in French with English subtitles. There are no extras. “Battle: Los Angeles” (Sony Home Entertainment) is an action picture reminiscent of ‘70s disaster flicks. Soon after what are thought to be meteors crash into the Earth’s oceans, it’s discovered that this is the vanguard of an alien attack on the planet. Heavily armed aliens storm the Santa Monica beach as Marines rush to evacuate civilians from the coast. Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) has just put in his retirement papers after a 20-year career in the Corps. The emergency, however, has put him in the middle of the action. His platoon is not thrilled, since several men under his command were killed in action in Afghanistan. The Marines make their way, block by block, to a police station where other civilians are discovered as the aliens and their flying machines close in for the kill. Viewers are introduced to familiar characters: the guy recovering from battle trauma, the female soldier fighting beside her male counterparts, the bitter Marine whose brother was killed under Nantz’s command, the untested lieutenant, the courageous civilian, and the young Marine overwhelmed by real-life battle. Special effects are fairly good, but the design of the aliens is not very effective. Looking like a cross between a Transformer and the creepy aliens of “District 9,” these creatures are shown in close-up only once, when the Marines and a veterinarian experiment on how to kill it, since bullets don’t seem to work. We see them perform a (continued on Crossword page)