No one has been eagerly awaiting my thoughts on The Odyssey, but I have some anyway. Reaction I've read has been polarized--some very positive, some very negative--so I kept an open mind as I went to see it with my daughters this afternoon.
I liked it very much. It's an adult film with ideas that is about something. That in itself makes it interesting and worthwhile these days.
I am not a classics quibbler. One of the great strengths of old stories like The Odyssey, Beowulf, Shakespeare or religious myths is they carry universal themes that can be adapted for the times. If Romeo and Juliet can be molded into West Side Story, I have no problem with director Christopher Nolan playing a little fast and loose with Homer.
Odysseus has an interesting character arc. In this version, he is a soldier consumed with guilt for sins he and his army committed in their siege of Troy that broke the laws of god(s) and man. His 20-year voyage is penance for those crimes, and he only gets home when he surrenders his hubris and puts his fate in the hands of the gods. It's almost Zen.
I loved the movie's treatment of the Greek gods. We don't see much of them except Athena, whose resemblance to Zendaya is explained late in the film. Otherwise, they're forces of nature too transcendent for humans to comprehend. A stormy sea is Poseidon's wrath; a clap of thunder punctuates Zeus's disapproval. Much better, I think, than Laurence Olivier pontificating in a toga.
I'm very glad I saw it. My classics-loving daughters liked it, too. It'll stay with me. Your mileage may vary.
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