This powerful, masterfully directed movie shows Harvey Keitel in 2 roles and Maia Morgenstern in 5 roles. The film presents deep-rooted themes interwoven with clever, seamless flashbacks. These universal motifs include: loss of empire (culture), loss of family, loss of homeland, and loss of one's mother, and the resulting bereavement. "Ulysses" is an appropriate title since the protagonist searches for his lost homeland after wandering for many years in foreign lands. The role of Maia M. is deceptively important, as an anima image, as mother, as helper, as rescuer & caretaker & hearth keeper, and as the spirit of new life that is taken away by fate. The themes run forwards and backwards with seamless transitions. An example is at end of the film, at a New Year's dance: the protagonist dances reluctantly with his mother and then more assuredly with another character in a different time frame. The dialogue in this long journey is spoken in different languages: Greek (HK manages to speak some complete sentences), English, Bulgarian, Serbian, Romanian, German. The haunting viola music written by Eleni Karaindrou lends proper atmosphere to the themes. A difficult movie to watch perhaps for young people, but unforgettable for someone who has suffered family and/or homeland losses during wartime.
Review of Ulysses' Gaze
