Watch Ulysses' Gaze For Free

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

An acquaintance today bemoaned the lack of historical knowledge that Americans have in their own history and government. To expect them to have a knowledge of European history, particularly Greek and Balkan history would be ludicrous. That knowledge of history would serve you well as you try to understand the work of Theodoros Angelopoulos. a director on a par with Fellini, and Kurosawa, and Bergman.Angelopoulos likes the long, slow shots that give you time to reflect on what you are seeing. Those that are impatient have difficulty with this, but those who appreciate great cinema will luxuriate in the process.Winning two awards at Cannes, Angelopoulos was disappointed he did not win the Golden Palm. 1996 was a great year for film, and he did very well with this one despite that.

I have to confess that my introduction to Mr. A's works was not completely successful. He is a very talented film maker -this one is given. His shots are breathtaking, the music score takes you out of this world and the subject of the movie is quite respectable. What would you expect from the movie which title is "Ulysses' Gaze"? You would expect Ulysses embarking in the exhausting journey in search of his roots, himself, his one true love forgotten but still living deeply inside his soul which he "has to gaze into if he tries to find it" (according Plato). In this movie the roots are represented by the first cinematic footage ever filmed in Greece and Ulysses - Greek director "A" who had left his home country 35 years ago and now he is back and he HAS to find the footage. Why? Frankly, I am not sure but to find it he is ready to travel by car, by train, by boat, and by foot through the Balkan countries torn by war. In his quest, he also visits and relives his past as a young boy in the country he was born, later left but never was able to forget. He meets a lot of women who fell in love with him from the first sight but he seems to be forever captured by one true love because every woman he meets has the same face (they all are played by the same actress, Maia Morgenstern). I like the movies like this - meaningful, personal, beautiful, the movies that have a lot to say but never rush. This movie has some problems though and one problem is called Harvey Keitel. I love Harvey, I think he is a great actor - brave, intense, ironic, clever, tough but vulnerable. Sadly, for all 173 minutes of "Ulysses Gaze", he looked like he was just about to say, "I am Mr. Wolfe. I solve problems but what am I doing here? How did I let myself take the role that I am so uncomfortable with?" Another problem may be in the unbearable self-importance of what Theo Angelopoulos had to say to the world. Or how he said it. There was one scene in the movie that could've been moving, warm, and beautiful - the people dance in the room, celebrate New Year and the dance continues on as the years pass by. It could've been moving but Angelopoulos chose to make it strangely cold and remote. Why? I don't know. There was one scene in the movie at the 2.5 hours mark that almost made me forget all the negatives - the orchestra on the snow in Sarajevo playing melody so marvelous that it could've easily been written by Orpheus whose music used to hypnotize every living creature on Earth.I don't regret seeing this movie and I will see more Angelopoulos' films in the future but I could've done something better with 173 minutes of my life.

I found this film very surreal. I don't know the history behind the story but I was not bored. When it was over I felt slowly transported to another time and place. The scene in the fog hit me in a very unusual way.This is not the film for someone who wants a smash boom, shoot 'em up thriller. I has a steady development and not the pace of an action film. If you enjoy films that are more cognitive you might like this one.Harvey Keitel does a lot of good films. He appears to choose projects that have interesting themes.I really liked it.

I am surprised that so many people commented positively on this film!Mr. Angelopoulos was trying to be epic and grandiose but he is just hollow. I had the impression that all the time he was saying: "O mortals, behold how much we, Greeks, have suffered over the century!" Yet, maybe except for Sarajevo at the end, there was not a single scene in this film, directed so that it will make one share a compassion for the things you see. Until the orchestra and fog of Sarajevo, all the feelings in this film remained declared but unfleshed.Many people here compare it to Underground. But Underground made me cry. While Odysseus only made me angry and later made me indifferent.By the way, it made me angry because it portrays a very unobjective helleno-centric view of the developments of the region. I do come from this region and I do have a pretty good knowledge on its history so this film cannot deceive me, but it would probably deceive thousands of viewers worldwide! I wouldn't complain about such an ethnocentric narrow-minded view from an average Greek citizen - all our nations are faulty in this regard. But definitely not from an artist claiming the standing of Mr. Angelopoulos!In fact, if you wonder how the infamous "deep-rooted tribal hatred" of the Balkans comes about - you might want to watch exactly this film as an example of an instrument to that end! The main suggestion of the film is that Greeks are the only fine people on the peninsula (similar feelings run in every country in the region). Despite, or because of that, they are awfully mistreated by the barbarians of the north for a hundred years. The barbarians of course are types living in total misery - both material and spiritual.