Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Slobodan Kosanovic (skosanovic) As a citizen of Sarajevo who has spent all four years under the siege of the city in nineties in Sarajevo, I can confirm that nobody has been killed on the streets of Sarajevo because he or she was of Serb nationality. I can say that during the war in Bosnia, streets of Sarajevo were safer place than they are today. To throw bodies into the river flowing through Sarajevo is also nonsense. After the Serbian family has been killed on the street, the Muslim soldier in the movie says "Throw bodies into Miljacka!" and it has been translated as "Throw them into the river!", because an average movie viewer cannot know the name of the river flowing through Sarajevo. Whoever visited Sarajevo knows that Miljacka river is very shallow and through the history nobody was throwing dead bodies into it. That couldn't happen ever.The end of the movie, when we have scenes from the Bosnia war, was heavily influenced by Serbian public media propaganda. These scenes do not help foreigners to better understand anything about Bosnian war.From the technical point of view, all scenes in the movie supposed to happen in Sarajevo, were taken in another destroyed Bosnian city, Mostar. Producers used heavy fog to cover the fact that the scenes on streets are not taken in Sarajevo.

trashcan1973 This is one of the most boring movies I have ever seen, probably THE worst. A friend had rented it even though we'd never heard of it because of a lot of praise on the cover but my only explanation is that in fear of being accused of not understanding the artsy-fartsy deepness of it, they praise it. After about an hour we were both ready to give up in order to kill time some better way like playing monopoly or watching girls in infomercials for exercise equipment, but we decided to stick with it. After all, it COULD pick up and it had been praised, but most of all we didn't want anybody to tell us we couldn't criticize it because we hadn't seen all of it and we REALLY didn't have anything better to do. I was horrible. There's one scene 15 minutes long (really, we checked) with almost nothing but mute shots of a gigantic Lenin statue being transported on a barge down some river. "Almost" because for 30 seconds there's a short dialog between the PA system on the boat and the border patrol's PA system. The images don't move for this duration.I must say there are many movies that are pretty good even though they are slow, but Your lives will be better if you don't see this movie.

cwieck_2 Justly famous for being one of the last remaining directors still doing extraordinary cinema, in this film Angelopoulos celebrates the end of Communism in Eastern Europe, while, at the same time, looking with touching sensitivity into the lives of people molded by recent (and less recent) History. Some of the scenes related to History have already become classic, but, personally, I was more impressed by the description of the way this History affected individuals and families. Although the media has covered so amply the tragic events in the Balkans and (to a lesser extent) the external aspects of people's life, very little has been said about more human aspects which, after all, will keep affecting them for many, many years to come. In my opinion, this film offers the most complete, convincing and respectful take on the affected people's emotions, memories and relations among the (few) films, documentaries and books touching on the theme.The scale is epic both geographically and chronologically and since Angelopoulos manages to move easily between dream and reality (one of the biggest problems facing cinema directors), the personal stories are nicely interwoven with History. Angelopoulos' characteristic long takes, in this instance serve more than giving the film a poetic atmosphere. It is necessary for his goal of looking carefully on individuals' lives and describe their joys and sorrows. In terms of execution, there were some flaws (especially in technicalities of directing of actors) but, frankly, I don't mind that, if the alternative is perfectly executed films but lacking interesting ideas.

pswitzertatum Before seeing this film for the first time, I was already familiar with the brilliant CD of the music. I had some idea through the music of what the film portrayed, but was somewhat put off by the three hours devoted to a movie about the Balkans. I just wasn't ready for a drama about this violent and troubling history although I had adored the wonderful film "Before the Rain." Now after viewing the compelling and stunning "Ulysses' Gaze" I can highly recommend both the music and the film. The music and the movie are exquisite partners. The cinematography is truly breathtaking. I was taken with the intense yearning and empathy of Harvey Keitel as the Ulysses of the quest, but especially struck by Maia Morgenstern as the female focus of the film. She is brilliant. And the great Erland Josephson is wonderful to watch. Although the movie is quite long, its richness and unusual perspectives are impressive, thought-provoking, and profound. I think that by the end, as is the main character, the viewer can be wholly changed by this experience.