It Doesn’t Take An Odyssey to Enjoy

I was going to write a longer view of the Christopher Nolan’s newest film The Odyssey, but for whatever reason I find myself struggling to write this one. I don’t know why. Blame the heat, blame my last few sleepless nights, blame stress, blame the gods, whatever. 

I think that my real issue with writing anything about the movie is it’s a fairly complicated interpretation of the poem. That’s not a fault of the movie, by the way. I appreciate any movie that makes me think this long and this hard about the movie as a whole, it’s source material, and the changes made in adaptation.

The aspects that I don’t like about the movie are easily summarized; removing Penelope’s test of Odysseus from the ending, the fact that it seems to lack a sense of humor, the re-framing of Ancient Greek politics, and removal of agency from most female characters. These aren’t issues that entirely ruin the movie for me, thankfully, but they stand out as consequences of the adaptation’s hyper-realistic approach. 

Now, I would have complained that the realistic approach doesn’t fit an adaptation of the Odyssey, a mythic tale that tends to be a good subject for fantasy movies. But that’s not really true, as it happens. Sure, as I said I don’t like all the fallout of this decision, but there are cases where it works. Take one of my cited issues; the reframing of Greek politics. The movie implies that the Greeks’ siege of Troy was motivated by more than just a dispute over Helen of Troy, suggesting that Agamemnon had political desires over trading routes (thankfully they don’t go full Star Wars on that plotpoint and don’t focus more than a line of dialogue on it.) That’s fine and all, but it has the effect of flattening Agamemnon’s character and turning him into a (admittedly imposing) granite slab of a human who serves as an allegorical warning for Odysseus, instead of the tragic, complicated character of the Iliad and Odyssey. 

On the other hand, where the realism works is, paradoxically in the fantastical. It’s a matter of contrasts. It’s amazing seeing a (largely practical) cyclops staggering into a cave, seamlessly and smoothly worked into the background while interacting with the human sized actors. The practical effects seen in Circe’s literally hands-on transformation of Odysseus’ crew makes that scene pretty fucking unnerving. The scenes taking place in Hades are incredibly unnerving. Even the omission of the gods from the movie (baring Athena) seems to make their influence on the plot through nature that much more powerful. In so far as the realism grounds the movie, I think it makes for an accessible entry point for newcomers.

One aspect of the movie I really enjoyed was the focus on the law of Hospitality, referred to in the film as Zeus’ law. It’s the insistence that hosts welcome all guests and treat them with civility as they don’t know if their guest is a god in disguise. The movies goes to great lengths to discuss this as an inviolate law of Greek culture - being the reason why Penelope can’t just toss the suitors out of her house. Of course, the movie also discusses how this principle was violated by Odysseus in his destruction of Troy. It takes this down an interesting thematic hole, introducing a plot point that Greek peoples have become afraid of nebulous raiding parties (the Sea Peoples of ancient infamy.) Ultimately it is suggested that a cultural breakdown stemming from Troy’s destruction has rendered the Greeks suspicious of any sea-faring peoples especially if they seem friendly or in need. Kind of on the nose, but there’s a lot to unpack there. 

I think I’m having a hard time writing about this movie because I have a lot to say about it, but it’s taken me a while to fully parse my own thoughts. That’s not exactly a bad thing, but it does mean I can’t say much about it without going down a long rabbit hole in my mind, and that’s just not really fun to write about.  Ultimately, gun to my head, hand on my heart, I can only reach the conclusion that it’s a good movie, despite my having several issues. I’ve certainly thought more about the Odyssey itself after watching it, and that can only be a good thing. 

I don't own this image, claiming fair use.