I went and saw Nolan’s Odyssey on Wednesday, and I can’t stop thinking about the film. It was visually stunning, the music by Göransson which harkened back to the music of the period and used recreated Greek instruments allowed me to slip the bonds of present day and live in a allegory.
I haven’t read The Odyssey since high school and it as I recall it read like a fantasy story for me. I didn’t see the deeper meaning. So to see this film as a meditation on the fall of a civilization — the Bronze age, the costs of war and the tragic outcome when hospitality is denied took this ancient tale to a new level for me.
The fact that this requirement to welcome the stranger is known across multiple cultures, in Hebrews 12:2 “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” and in Greece where Zeus demanded Xenia where a host must welcome the stranger and treat them with respect has a sad and depressing resonance in this era of ICE and the demonization of immigrants.
Nolan’s use of Zendaya is ambiguous and that was perfect because she was the representation of guilt and regret. Tom Holland stood out for me in his performance of a young man trying to find his place while grieving a father he never knew.
The use of the helmet to ensure that we almost never see Agamemnon as human was a brilliant choice. He is the representation of war, brutality, destruction. A man who sacrifices his own child in pursuit of war. The shot when the gates of Troy are breached and he stands in his black armor like the very manifestation of death reminded me of Darth Vader’s appearance at the end of Rogue One. Brutal, terrifying, inhuman.
Sinon, the boy who trusted Odysseus only to be betrayed by his belief in the Trickster was incredibly poignant for me. And yes the character doesn’t appear in what we know as the Odyssey, but instead in the Aeneid, but Nolan uses him as another example of how Odysseus justifies betraying his morality and humanity to achieve a violent end. Not only for Troy but for everyone of the People from the Sea. Everyone from Agamemnon to Odysseus take horrendous actions to further their goals that ultimately end in loss and tragedy for both of them.
And then there is Circe. The fact Nolan chose to make her a middle aged woman rather than a beautiful temptress was meaningful and poignant to me in an era where the Epstein files remain hidden, and people argue that the Tate brothers should not face justice. Where Dominique Pelicot drugged his own wife and had other men abuse her has spawned imitators. One can appreciate why Circe called the men, even after they had been restored to human form, beasts.
Shout out to John Leguizamo who plays Eumaeus, the loyal servant to Odysseus, Penelope and Telemachus. I expect he will be nominated for an Academy Award
Finally, as a writer, I so appreciated the way Nola structured the script. Instead of a linear retelling he used flashbacks to tell the story while having a timeline that was also contemporaneous. Normally, I am not a fan of flashbacks, but in this case it worked brilliantly, and I want to study it in more detail as instruction for my own writing.
