88
1
237 * 310
24/01/2020
12+
“Django: Hand on Fire” tells the story of the youth of Django Reinhardt, a
Roma raised outside Paris who would go on to be one of the most
influential guitarists of all time. We follow his early years as an
aimless and rebellious kid who
is heading for a life of trouble until his devoted younger brother
Nin-Nin convinces their mother Négros to buy him a banjo. Captivated by
its possibilities and spurred by his natural talent, Django becomes
obsessed with the instrument and quickly surpasses
his older peers, mastering the popular bal-musette and intrigued by the
new jazz coming over from the States. Soon he is playing in clubs
and winning awards. He is on the verge
of international success at the age of 18
when a tragedy strikes that will mark the rest of his life and career:
he is badly burned in a caravan fire and spends the next years
relearning how to play the guitar with only two fully-functioning
fingers. This is an amazing story of perseverance and of
fierce family love that is little known even to many jazz aficionados.
