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The Odyssey is a smash hit with critics and on course to make over $1 billion at the global box office, but some have questioned changes made by Nolan for his adaptation of Homer’s epic poem.<\/p>\n
Warning!<\/strong><\/em> Spoilers for The Odyssey follow:<\/em><\/p>\nFor example, Greek translator Emily Wilson, who is behind the 2017 translation of The Odyssey that Nolan reportedly credited with inspiring his take on the poem, has questioned the absence of the gods Zeus and Poseidon in the movie, and called the film\u2019s anti-war and anti-cowardice message \u201cincoherent.\u201d She was also critical of Anne Hathaway\u2019s Penelope, saying the role was so reduced it endangered \u201cany possibility of believing in this marriage.\u201d Neither did she like the scenes with Odysseus’ dog, Argos, which she said \u201ccatered towards modern sentimentality.\u201d Overall, Wilson said she thought Nolan \u201cwas trying to pack everything in while missing themes that were essential to the poem.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Odyssey Cast and Characters: Who’s Who in the Christopher Nolan Film<\/h3>\n<\/span><\/output><\/p>\n
In an interview with Time Magazine, Nolan explained some of his changes around Helen of Troy, Athena, and his new ending \u2014 although he still left much to audience interpretation.<\/p>\n
For a start, Nolan wouldn\u2019t confirm that Athena \u2014 played by Zendaya \u2014 is actually the god Athena, as she is in the poem, or a manifestation of Odysseus\u2019 guilt over the Trojan war. Referencing how he learnt his lesson from explaining Memento, Nolan refused to define the experience. But he did talk generally about his take on The Odyssey and the question of whether the gods exist in his adaptation, insisting that \u201cwe view the gods the way that people at the time might have viewed them. So they\u2019re seeing evidence of the gods in nature. They\u2019re seeking and finding gods and the influence of gods in the people around them.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the big changes Nolan makes is to Helen of Troy, played by Lupita Nyong’o, with the suggestion that Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) deliberately scarred Helen\u2019s face upon her return to Sparta. In Greek mythology, Menelaus forgives Helen. In Nolan\u2019s adaptation, Menelaus and Helen have a toxic marriage, and he forces her to show her scarred face to Tom Holland\u2019s Telemachus, saying: \u201cThe face that launched 1,000 ships, or maybe just 500.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nSo, why make this change? Nolan said he felt Homer\u2019s poem \u201cdidn\u2019t necessarily address what it is for Helen to be brought back by Menelaus and how that would ever work,\u201d saying he felt it would be an \u201cacidic, awful marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of s**t that\u2019s happened in that relationship, and we have a very brief moment of time with them in this story,\u201d Nolan continued. \u201cI was looking for a shorthand way to communicate the aftermath of the war and how it\u2019s been traumatic for the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nolan also touched on changes he made in response to the end of Homer\u2019s poem, which he said is \u201cso grim and so misogynistic, I had to exclude some of that material. But I didn\u2019t want to completely take it off the table in terms of what it is saying about men and the way they wage war.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is seemingly in reference to the end of Homer\u2019s poem, where Odysseus kills the disloyal maidservants alongside the suitors. My take on Nolan\u2019s explanation here is that he sort of transposes his feelings about the murder of the maidservants into Circe\u2019s motivation for turning Odysseus\u2019 soldiers into pigs. Circe in Homer’s poem is a very different character, and the scene in question plays out very differently.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nAnd, briefly, Nolan discussed his new ending, where Odysseus and Penelope sail away into the sunset while predicting how future civilizations are destined to repeat the same mistakes. This, again, is different from Homer\u2019s poem, where Odysseus remains as king with a little divine intervention helping him out along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it was important in looking at the ending to try and strike the right balance between pessimism and optimism,\u201d Nolan explained, \u201cpessimism about what might have precipitated the Bronze Age catastrophe and the optimism that positive things will reassert themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
My take here is that Nolan changed the ending to hammer home the film\u2019s overarching message about the horrors of war. Indeed, the final shot of the movie is the burning head of Odysseus\u2019 horse, used to trick the Trojans into opening their doors, and, in the movie\u2019s view, sparking the beginning of the end of western civilization. Watching the movie, I felt some ambiguity over the ending \u2014 is it Odysseus\u2019 dying dream? Is it real? But the way Nolan talks about it here, it does feel like something that actually happened, insofar as anything in The Odyssey actually happened.<\/p>\n
Is that a bad thing? As I\u2019ve said before, it is entirely possible to enjoy Nolan\u2019s The Odyssey for what it is: a spectacular and emotional blockbuster movie with a message, while acknowledging it deviates from the source material in some fundamental ways.<\/p>\n
Photo by Tim P. Whitby\/Getty Images for Universal Pictures.<\/em><\/p>\nWesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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