The Odyssey |
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16 July 2026 - Erlenbach
It's been around 30 years since I read the Odyssey in high school, which is more than enough time to forget the details that can distract one when watching a cinematic adaptation. So tonight I saw Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Odysseus. It was immediately annoying as we a see a woman playing the Greek soldier Sinon on the beach, and no less a woman because she cut off her breasts and demands everyone pretend she is a he. Nolan was once slated to direct Troy (a much better movie), and had already planned the scene with the horse on the beach. It was definitely a different take. This movie also jumps around in time, most of it being flashbacks, for no apparent storytelling reason other than Nolan likes flashbacks. Tenet and Momento were awesome and the time jumps made sense for the story. The Odyssey didn't need to be told out of order. Tom Holland and Matt Damon give epic performances at the same time we are expected to accept Helen of Troy was a very black African. And there are random black, asian, and indian side characters throughout, which detract from the historical aspects of the film. Nolan appears to have been bitten by the multiculturalism bug, distractingly diverging from the rest of his corpus of historical films.
The relationship between Holland's Telemachus and Damon's Odysseus is the heart of the film. And being a father separated from his son for years that part hit me hardest. But Maxwell and I are twain by his choice and there is no filial piety left in him as far as I can tell. Nolan's message that civilization falls apart when we break such codes will, no doubt, not be heard in Norway. That Odysseus ends up atoning for violating the "guest is god" tradition with the Trojan Horse sums up Nolan's version of the story. Maybe Matt Damon finally gets his Best Actor Oscar?
