We live as we can, not as we want. What a hellish price to pay. Life sure was dreadfully terrible back then.

It looks like a western that nevertheless reveals itself as a historical dissection of 19th century Romanian society through real documents. The slavery of the gypsies in the hands of the boyars ends up being an assumed way of life in order to have something to eat. A harsh look, even more so with B/W cinematography, which finds a way to soften itself through dialogues that extract humor from human degradation.