original title:
L'ultimo re
directed by:
cast:
screenplay:
cinematography:
set design:
costume design:
music:
producer:
production:
world sales:
country:
Italy
year:
2010
film run:
80'
format:
35mm - colour
festivals & awards:
In “The Last King”, set in the time of the heroes of Greek mythology, Andromache and the other Trojan women persevere as both the victims and the heroines of war, withstanding its brutality, together with the trials of motherhood, lost love and death, caught up in a timeless, tightly woven maze of emotions. Their male counterpart, the hero born to excel in warfare, voyages and the exploration of the unknown, is wily Ulysses.
The figure filled with negative connotations is Pyrrhus, son of Achilles the half-god, but nowhere near as worthy as his mighty father. War, as always triggered by economic issues, together with conflicts of race, religion, culture and civilisation, result in a story of strife and genocide, set in a
context of no small relevance to modern times, proof of how the problems facing humanity have been around forever, and
continue to occur over and over again, without ever being resolved.