Return is a methodical construction of the approach of an individual towards an unseen goal, which assumes metaphorical significance. Viola moves toward the camera/viewer, pausing every few steps to ring a bell, at which point he is momentarily thrust back to his starting place, and then advanced again. Finally reaching his destination, he is taken through all of the previous stages in a single instant and returned to the source of his journey.

Bill Viola has been exploring video art since its beginnings in the 1970's, and is increasingly recognised as one of the most important visual artists working today. His work includes single-channel pieces as well as large scale sound and image installations.
"Bill Viola : The Eye of the Heart", initially broadcasted in 1996, is the first portrait to have been made of this crucial artist. The film features Viola at work, extracts from some of his major works, and in-depth interviews with Viola himself.
In the film Viola talks passionately about his life and the events and artistic influences that have driven his work: from his childhood memory of near-drowning, to the artistic exploration and political activism of his youth, and on to the death of his mother. The film explores as well the connection between Viola's work and the mystical traditions of East and West.

Bill Viola's The Reflecting Pool created from 1977 to 1979 is largely concerned with water. The camera angle of this film never moves. The camera is positioned in the same place for the entirety of the piece. In the beginning of the film you see a square pool which has the color and feel of an impressionist painting. You hear the sound of outside, both airplanes and running water. From the woods you slowly see a man appear and he stands by the edge of the pool. The viewer is captivated with him standing there staring at the pool. Then there is a freeze frame of the man doing a cannon ball into the pool. There is movement of water as if something had dropped but the image is still lingering above the pool. A reflection of a person walking is able to be made out in the water. There is no person walking to be causing that reflection though. Then you see the frozen image over the water disappear. Now there are two reflections walking. Again there is no figure to cause such a reflection. There are ripples of water in the pool and then the single image reflection appears again. Then the person that was in the cannon ball freeze frame swims to the edge of the pool and get out, walking back into the woods.
The Reflecting Pool seems to be a full circle. Starting from the woods and ending in the woods. Is this an analogy for life--starting at one point and ending at another with many strange things occurring in between? Sometimes there is no explanation for incidents, just like the reflections and you don't necessarily need to see the splash to believe that when you jump you eventually are going to land. The person getting out of the pool was a way of answering whether or not he was in that pool. This film made you think about the process of human thought. How everything doesn't need to physically be shown to know they are there.