Can a filmmaker find the origins of cinema amidst the ruins of a war?

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In Theo Angelopoulos' 1995 masterpiece, a Greek director embarks on a haunting odyssey across the Balkans. Searching for legendary, undeveloped film reels, he traverses a landscape defined by conflict and memory. It is a profound meditation on identity, history, and the persistent, fragile gaze of the artist in dark times.

Directed by Theo Angelopoulos, Ulysses' Gaze serves as the first entry in his trilogy on borders and his inaugural project filmed outside of Greece. The narrative follows a filmmaker known as A, portrayed by Harvey Keitel, who returns to his homeland only to be drawn into a sprawling journey through Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia. His ostensible goal is to recover three mysterious, undeveloped reels of film shot by the Manaki brothers, which are rumored to predate their known work, The Weavers—widely considered the first film ever captured in the Balkans.

The film functions as a complex tapestry where A's personal memories, the historical legacy of the Manaki brothers, and the stark reality of the contemporary Balkans collide. As A travels by train, barge, and rowboat, he encounters various figures played by Maia Morgenstern, who embodies multiple archetypal roles reminiscent of Homer's Odyssey, including Penelope, Calypso, Circe, and Nausicaa. The production was marked by tragedy; actor Gian Maria Volonté passed away during filming and was replaced by Erland Josephson, to whom the final film is dedicated. The haunting score, composed by Eleni Karaindrou, remains a celebrated element of the work.

The journey culminates in the besieged city of Sarajevo, where A meets Ivo Levy, an underground cinema archivist played by Josephson. Together, they attempt to develop the elusive reels against the backdrop of war. The film concludes on a rare, foggy day in Sarajevo—a moment of irony where the dense weather provides a brief, protective reprieve from snipers, allowing the city a fleeting chance to flourish. Through its exploration of decay and the search for cinematic roots, Ulysses' Gaze earned the Grand Jury Prize at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival and remains a fixture on lists of the greatest films of all time.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• How a childhood search for a missing father shaped a master of cinema
• A masterpiece of Greek cinema, filmed in secret under a military dictatorship
• Can a dying man find meaning by rescuing a child from the shadows?
• The engineering of history meets the rugged geography of southern Greece
• How a 1954 epic about Homer's hero became a legend of behind-the-scenes drama
• Jean-Pierre Melville’s final film was a tense, troubled masterpiece of French crime cinema
• How a gritty film about Punjab's drug crisis sparked a battle for artistic freedom
• A Soviet-Italian comedy film that relied on real stunts and a very difficult lion
• A Hollywood blockbuster sparked an international diplomatic row over who actually cracked the Enigma.
• What if a real-life superhero walked among us, unaware of his own extraordinary nature?
• The baseball star who turned down Hollywood to chase a dream
• How a World War II survivor's life became a polarizing cinematic battleground

More in Films · More in Entertainment · Latest · A–Z · All topics