The Meaning of Nolan’s The Odyssey
I suspect like many of you, I saw The Odyssey this weekend. I really liked it and the more I read & think about the film, the more it grows in my esteem. This thread by Mmina Maclang-Tamayo (spoilers!) is pretty much how I interpreted what Nolan was trying to convey.
As it turns out, it was 10,000% important that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was delivered in American accents, beyond just the Emily Wilson linguistics of it all.
It’s because it was about America.
I didn’t think it’d be possible to spoil a 3000 year-old epic, but here’s a 🧵
The emphasis on what’s happening back in Ithaca, with the royal courts and suitors to Penelope reflect upon the internal politics of taking the anxieties of the people about external invaders to attempt to seize power.
Then, Odysseus returns with the revelation: the feared invaders, “The Sea People”, were them all along.
Zeus’ Law has an uncanny resemblance to Christian teaching. “Whatsoever you do to the least of My brothers, that you do unto Me”. (Matthew 25:40)
That America proudly keeps envoking the Abrahamic God in its identity as a nation, and its government attempting to justify their actions in the name of such a God, yet turn around and gravely mistreat the immigrants on their doorstep, and antagonize their own allies, is a betrayal of its identity.
The film warns: America has broken Zeus’ Law.
Steve Donner shared some interesting thoughts in his reading of the film:
20. The point: Nothing is sacred in war, and we have lost all respect for basic decency and hospitality. We’re all the violators; we are all the suitors, we are all the cyclops. Consequently, all the towers and temples burn (“the burning roof and tower, and Agamemnon dead”). It’s Odysseus’ guilt about his foreign wars manifesting again and he’s spent years avoiding the truth.
21. That’s why he’s unconsciously avoided home for twenty years: he simply cannot face what he has become, nor does he wish to show his shame to his wife and son.
I’m looking forward to seeing the movie again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, what did you think of The Odyssey? And if you read or listened to something interesting or provocative about the film, please share links!
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I’m going tonight; reports like this and a comparison on vibes to The Green Knight have me looking forward to it.
I am currently working through Emily Wilson's Odyssey right now and trying to finish it before I see the film, as it has been about two decades since I last read the Odyssey. A friend, who also loves the classics, saw it last night and loved it, so I am now quite tempted to go to a Tuesday night IMAX showing.
Americans: 'it's about us! Everything is always about us!' I mean, sorry Americans, but not everything is about you. Really, it's not.
It's in American accents because ... what accents did you expect it to be in? RP?
As for the film: it was less bad than I expected. He still can't write parts for women, can he?
Not the best film Zendaya or Robert Pattinson were in this year.
Robert Eggers would like word.
Hm.
Kate M: internet awards points to you for conciseness and a link!
And reinforcing cultural standards, although that requires some judgement
I think when a post extensively quotes people (who I assume are American) saying that a film is secretly about America, then it is reasonable to reply that this is both extremely arrogant, in a way that non-Americans like me are used to and (in my opinion) wrong.
But I also accept that the tone of my comment may have been too strong for this forum.
I left the movie loving it. And loving it more because I don't think it was perfect. I initially really didn't care for Tom Holland's performance, naive, playing up his boyish qualities, but maybe thats how it needed to be. Naive and not yet world weary, having to sort through the fake news and eventually go on his own odyssey to interrogate the truth, not just soak in the fury or rumors stirring in the palace.
I felt the same. It's not a perfect movie but I thought it was a fantastic one, from the craft and innovation of it all (script, production, acting, sound, etc.) to the way it made this big mythical ancient poem feel very human and relevant. I thought using the same American accents and modern language throughout was a great choice for that. I think people expect too much perfection, and then find ways to pick smaller things apart instead of taking in what was happening overall and the bigger picture message I think Nolan was going for.
As a side note on Tom Holland, I watched a Wired interview with him in which he said he mistakenly played Telemachus as a 16 year old, which makes his boyishness/naivety approach make more sense. But not knowing that and watching the film as if the character is 20/21, I had the same reaction about some of his acting choices.
Finally! The world has been waiting for this for ages: Homer’s Odyssey in IMAX 17/70, with 12-channel sound. Optional XXL popcorn. It’s bound to be a smash hit. And it’s all about us! Nolan is amazing. Musk was wrong to be sulking. It’s a great cultural victory for America.
I saw it and I’m a bit conflicted.
To be totally honest, I was kind of bored for a lot of it. Maybe I’m just impatient and immature but I found it really slow moving in many parts. And a lot of the dialogue was really stilted.
But.
I have been thinking about it a lot too. The “twist” at the end about the sea people was great. And the fall of civilization and breaking Zeus’ law etc. It did resonate with me a lot afterwards.
Maybe I’ll give it another go.
I enjoyed it. My strongest reaction to the film was to the Circe episode, which felt both dreamlike and shockingly, viscerally immediate. And as an actor, I deeply admired how Samantha Morton worked with Nolan’s dialogue - which I thought was psychologically acute but clunky to the ear - using every expressive tool at her disposal other than the words to convey the multitude of meanings in each line. I also think she and Matt Damon played off each other beautifully; he really came alive to me in that scene.
Odysseus as a man broken by the horror of war and betrayal is a timely take. Like Tony Gilroy said about Andor, you don’t have to be writing about any specific country or political movement for such a universal theme to feel like it’s a comment on current events.
The piece of art I couldn’t help thinking of over and over as I was watching Nolan’s film was Eleanor Coppola’s Hearts of Darkness, another story of a broken man trying to reconcile the story he set out to tell with the one he ended up living.
I saw it at a Omnimax theater with my 85 year-old friend. We were blown away. I think John Leguizamo deserves an Oscar.
I loved the film. I like that we can reinterpret a story as old as this with such meaning for a modern audience. Pure Cinema. It's also amazing that the story holds together so well for the length of this movie. A real mark of a singular vision for what this could be. For all those who say Christopher Nolan's changes to the story might make it unrecognizable from the original, well theres nothing more greek than that thought experiment.
“Pure cinema” is exactly how I’d describe it! When the lights came up the first thing I said was “now that was a MOVIE.”
I saw the movie last night and went in with high expectations. I must say, sadly, I thought it was fine. I wanted to be blown away and maybe that was the mistake. And I can't say that any of it way bad, really. It's a good movie. But somehow it went past me, it didn't really touch me emotionally, I wasn't *with* either of the characters, feeling their pain or joy or anger. It seemed to be a story about something, not a story that sucked me in and spit me out in the end changed.
Ooh, now I’m curious that so many of you like the film! I haven’t seen anything about this other than the film critic at Swedish Television who said he thought it would be Nolan’s first flop.
I LOVED it. Saw it at my local independent cinema and plan to see it again in IMAX as soon as I can. I think it's now my favorite Christopher Nolan movie?
I have not seen the movie, so that makes me an expert to comment, correct?
I did read She Who Remains recently which is hard to describe but sorta about a specific way of being transgender in Albania as codified into their ancient tribal text called Kanon. Reading more about Albania's Kanon makes it sound like it is possibly one of the few religions that have that have survived into the modern world from Indo-European times. Of note it was an oral tradition until very recent times.
And one of Kanon's emphasis is on about honoring the guest, which I know is a big deal in The Odyssey (the book) and sounds like Nolan focuses on this as well.
I am fascinated by this ancient religion fragment that has survived--with mutations undoubtedly. A glimpse into how it was and possibly how the proto Indo-European conquerers lived in their patriarchal world from 5000 years ago that spread so widely and influenced the Greek religion.
Anyway, a good book and I recommend it even if the connection the Odyssey is extremely loose.
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