The Return

After 20 years away, Odysseus washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The king finds much has changed since he left to fight in the Trojan War. His beloved wife, Penelope, is a prisoner in her own home and hounded to choose a new husband. Their son faces death at the hands of suitors who see him as an obstacle in their pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember, but he must face his past to save his family.

There’s an inherent and sweeping tragedy to The Return that makes Pasolini’s film feel truly epic, namely in the ways the visual language of the film mourns the bloodshed that would otherwise thrill in a picture like this. – RogerEbert.com

As tender and somber as it is thrilling, The Return proves a sword-and-sandals saga rooted in life’s biggest issues, all of them written on the unforgettable countenance of its illustrious star. – The Daily Beast