We had to read Homer’s The Odyssey in Freshman year at an all-girls Catholic High School for our Literature class. We knew this 3000-year-old poem was based on Greek mythology. We knew that it was fiction. But thanks to a very smart Saint Joseph Nun, we also knew that The Odyssey was a poem that revealed different tellings or points of view. Did Christopher Nolan get the story right? Did I enjoy the film?
The Odyssey
How do you squeeze an ancient epic poem into a film? Director Christopher Nolan did accomplish this feat with a three-hour-film version of The Odyssey, which played havoc with my sciatica, but I have to say that I did enjoy the film even though there was so much of the background story missing…and those of us who are into Greek mythology could definitely pick up on the flaws. But first, let’s concentrate on what Nolan got right. Contrary to a lot of reviews that I’ve read, I think Matt Damon did an excellent job as Odysseus. I don’t care if his nose wasn’t Greek enough; Matt Damon played Odysseus as the obstinate, stubborn warrior that Homer created in that famous tale.
Tom Holland was a surprise as Telemachus. I kept waiting for him to shoot spider webs, but by the end of this film, I felt that Holland held his own against more powerful actors than himself, such as Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, and Benny Safdie.
The War
The Greeks (Achaeans) wage war against Troy (Present-day Turkey) after the prince of Troy, Paris, abducts Helen (Lupita Nyong’o), the wife of Menelaus (Jon Bernthal). Agamemnon (Benny Safdie) gets his generals, including Odysseus, to fight in a full-out epic war against Troy. After ten long years of fighting, Odysseus comes up with a plan…the Trojan Horse…and Helen is rescued, but Odysseus broke the law of Greek hospitality and offends the goddess, Athena (Zendaya). The rest of the film has us watching Odysseus practically piss off all the important Greek Gods until he is shipwrecked on the island of Ogygia with the goddess Calypso (Charlize Theron).
Conclusion/ The Real Heroes of The Odyssey
As for the male actors, Christopher Nolan kind of got it right, but he fell short in the power he gave the female actors in their portrayal of the strong and fiercely loyal women of The Odyssey. In the poem, Penelope (Anne Hathaway) is the queen of Ithaca. She rules Ithaca on her own for twenty years, while raising a son and keeping 100 suitors waiting in the great hall while she supposedly works on a shroud for her father-in-law. She is not weak. She is cunning. She is loyal to her marriage to the dismay of Antinous (Robert Pattinson). I do believe that Anne Hathaway excellently played the part of Penelope.
Athena (Zendaya) is the goddess of wisdom and war, but Odysseus knowingly broke the law of hospitality and often pissed off the gods (Zeus and Poseidon), especially after blinding the Cyclops, Polyphemus (Bill Irwin). Again, in the poem, Athena is the loyal protector of a stubborn and arrogant man. But I don’t think Zendaya got a script that would have allowed her to play Athena the way Homer described her to us 3000 years ago.
Charlize Theron is a wonderful actress, but her Calypso, as directed, did nothing to capture the true essence of Homer’s sea nymph. There is a reason that Homer used Calypso to keep Odysseus from Penelope. You can’t tell that story in a three-hour film.
Samantha Morgan’s Circe was interesting, especially when she turns Odysseus’s men into swine, but unlike the Circe in the poem, the film would have gone on for hours if the entire tale of Circe and Odysseus was told, and again, where Penelope remained loyal to her vows, her husband had children with Circe.
Lupita Nyong’o played Helen/Clymnestra, and the racist people in our country were pissed that a black actress played the part…big sigh…because they most likely slept through history and geography. What the film did not explain is that Helen held the power of the throne, that the only claim Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) had to power was through Helen, and that is why this war was so important.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes, as a good action film, but it left me wanting to return to the book that is somewhere in the storage room. We had to buy that book for class way back in 1960. Its pages are probably yellow and frail, but I will find it, re-read it, and know that it is sometimes impossible to recreate a classic art form in film. Not in three hours.
