Le regard d'Ulysse

Greek filmmaker A travels back to his native country to show his most recent film after 35 years in America. However the religious groups protest and he is forced to abandon his plans. However he then decides to begin a search for the first pieces of film ever shot in Greece that remain unprocessed. His quest takes him across changing countries, bounders and war torn cities.

Personal films always run the risk of being too personal and losing the audience. Ulysses' Gaze runs that line very close and crosses it at times. The basic plot sees A travel across many borders and meeting many people. However the meaning of the film seems to be more about one man's obsession damaging the rest of his life and film as a means of recording history. This makes it a bit more difficult but the theme of obsession is well shown and it's A's quest that gripped me for the most part.

The direction is great – beautiful scenery, wonderful mesmeric tracking shots and long takes make for a great visual experience. However working in several languages takes it's toll and much of the english narration is weak and clumsy. That said he still paints some great pictures and the themes are mostly well developed. The scene where dialogue is played out in a misty screen for 4 minutes is great – while the huge Lenin statue is mesmerising.

However the english is weak and other flaws creep in. The use of the same woman to play several characters is an art movie cliché and just annoyed me as it seemed to serve no purpose. Keitel is not very good. He looks distracted at times – like the fact that he doesn't understand the language affected his ability to relate to those speaking it. His english dialogue is clumsily written but he does well for many key scenes.

Overall this didn't deserve to beat Underground as it is too long, has scenes that don't work and dialogue that is clumsy rather than poetic. However it still has masterful themes and visuals that make it worth watching despite the running time.

Theo Angelopoulos can take his place in the line with other great artists, as Bergman, Tarkovskii, etc. The piece is long, but not boring at all, though it's not an easy viewing. Viewer has to posess at least rudimentary knowledge about European, and, in particular, Balkan history. TA transform a personal story into a parable of Odissei's journey, a neverending search for one's soul. The shots are beautiful, even with somehow faded film.

With "Ulysses' Gaze", Theo Angelopoulos proves that he is one of the most influential figures in contemporary cinema. This film explores the idea of how people must go through their personal Odyssey to reach their destination with an unbelievable poetic quality. By exploring the idea of this journey, Angelopoulos shows how much he is influenced by the poems of Nobel prize-winning Greek poet George Seferis. The atmosphere of the film is admittedly extraordinary, aided by the terrific cinematography of Giorgos Arvanitis, Angelopoulos' collaborator since "Reconstruction" (1972).

But the incredibly dense philosophical context of the film does not stop there, as Angelopoulos depicts the tumultuous history of twentieth-century Balkans with extreme precision and artistry.

Harvey Keitel gave the best performance of his career, even managing to speak a few sentences in Greek without sounding too awkward. Maia Morgenstern (as symbols for Penelope, Nausikaa, Circe and Calypso in her multiple roles) and Erland Josephson are also quite good, while Thanassis Vengos gives a tragi-comic note to the film, with his performance as the taxi driver.

The fact that I am Greek (and therefore I am familiar with the political situation and able to identify with events better) admittedly played a major part in my interpretation of "Ulysses' Gaze" and non-Balkan viewers may find it difficult to identify with the film. However, the idea of the journey is universal and it is a pity that Angelopoulos is often dismissed by most Greeks as being too "difficult".

Major films and movies that I have seen have been primarily service pictures. I say service pictures because any idea being developed is immediately delivered in a reduced state right into the movie-goer's lap. It's a fast philosophy. This is unlike Ulysses' Gaze. I am still impressed by the movie because of its confidence in the viewer. I have read comments complaining about the film's overly long scenes. The scenes are an interaction between your mind and the screen. An image is produced and the director leaves the image for you to contemplate. Images shouldn't be beamed into minds as 10 second clips like Moulin Rouge. So many people explain to me their love of movies as a form of entertainment and escapism. Movies are an art form but like everything in this post-modern age, they cannot exist without the deep intellectual objective view point dividing the subjective experiences. Ulysses' Gaze does not REQUIRE patience it rewards contemplation and understanding.

Story-wise the plot is just as basic as The Wizard of Oz. An individual must journey to find home and a complete soul. I found it as a superb movie with its various allusions to mythology and actual history.

One of the most beautiful, poetic films ever made. The opening scenes are pure, unbeatable art. Rather than the unwinding of the complex narrative itself, it is the visual power of the images that Angelopoulos offers us that make this work so disturbing and beautiful. You have to watch the film as a series of paintings, poems, installations and performances rather than a conventional movie. The acting is superb, especially Harvey Keitel's performance, one of the best that this great actor has ever delivered. Especially memorable is the scene in which an old woman is taken for a ride to her hometown in Macedonia by Keitel. The woman left Macedonia before the advent of Communism and is now returning to her country for the first time in decades. Since her absence, her place has been transformed in a nightmarish communist city, filled with gray, impersonal, concrete buildings. We see the woman helpless and bewildered in an environment that she no longer recognizes, while Keitel goes away. A powerful metaphor of the fast and tremendous transformations suffered by the Balkans during the 20th century.

This is above all a lesson in history. A poignant monument to the memory and fate of Europe.