BD McClay in The New York Times:
Some people are going to tell you that the problem with Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is that it’s about modern people, not ancient people. Not me. It is about modern people, but so is everything else made by modern people. If you want to encounter the ancient world, you have to open a book. (Homer is available in several translations; I like Richmond Lattimore’s.)
Other people are going to tell you that the problem with Mr. Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is that he’s using an ancient text to revisit his own preoccupations: heroism, guilt, memory and the nature of time. Not me. I like an artist who’s not afraid to keep gnawing at the same bone. No, for me the problem with Mr. Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is something else. It’s Odysseus.
To refresh briefly for those who don’t remember the story and haven’t seen the movie: Homer’s two epic poems, the “Iliad” and the “Odyssey,” follow the story of the Trojan War, when the abduction of Helen, the wife of Menelaus, triggers a huge conflict. The Greeks lay siege to Troy for 10 years, with great losses on both sides, and finally achieve victory when Odysseus tricks the Trojans into bringing a horse full of soldiers into the city. Odysseus, sailing home in victory, then angers Poseidon, the god of the sea, delaying his homecoming by another decade. When he finally makes it back, he discovers his home is full of suitors courting his wife, Penelope, and plotting the demise of their son, Telemachus. Penelope has cleverly kept the suitors at bay through trickery, but she’s been betrayed by some of her servants and cannot hold out much longer.
More here.
Enjoying the content on 3QD? Help keep us going by donating now.