Fantastic Cast Ensemble with Amazing Cinematography: The Odyssey
Dr Ramandeep Mahal reviews The Odyssey
The Odyssey, based on the three-thousand-year-old Greek poem written by Homer, is one of the most widely acknowledged works in world literature. Christopher Nolan has relied on Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of the text. Incidentally, Wilson is also the first woman to translate the poem into English.
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Perhaps Christopher Nolan’s most ambitious undertaking to date, The Odyssey is an epic with its heart in the right place. A Trojan horse can be seen partially submerged in the sand on a deserted beach on the IMAX 70mm screen. Soldiers gallop toward it on horseback. A feeling of dread comes over you almost immediately. Through his stunning cinematography, Nolan attempts to convey that the Earth is undergoing an irreversible transformation. The hubris of humankind, he suggests, is leading us toward suffering, both now and in the future.
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The narrative of Homer’s Odyssey is too vast and complex to fit comfortably into a single film. It may therefore be somewhat challenging for audiences unfamiliar with Greek mythology to follow. Yet, as with works such as The Lord of the Rings, Dune, The Little Mermaid, and Gulliver’s Travels, all it takes is a little attention to the characters in order to follow the references and subplots. The word “odyssey” itself has come to signify a long, difficult, and arduous journey.
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In many ways, The Odyssey is the culmination of Nolan’s recurring obsessions: the harsh and relentless passage of time, the value of family and homecoming, the consequences of one’s actions, and the enduring nature of struggle. This latest version of The Odyssey centres on what happens when battle-hardened heroes return home, transformed by war and no longer the men they once were.
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Like the poem, the screenplay unfolds through numerous flashbacks, subplots, and intersecting narratives. These include those of Queen Penelope (played by Anne Hathaway), the nymph Calypso (played by Charlize Theron), Spartan King Menelaus (played by Jon Bernthal), the villainous suitor Antinous (played by Robert Pattinson), and Odysseus himself (played by Matt Damon).
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Oscar-winning editor Jennifer Lame once again demonstrates her remarkable skill. The first act is fast-paced and breathless, but after Odysseus leaves Troy and chooses a different path from King Agamemnon (played by Benny Safdie), the narrative begins to lose momentum. His disastrous adventures accumulate one after another, and the IMAX experience starts to resemble an intricate and immersive role-playing video game. While some villains are easily defeated through cunning, others are overpowering and almost certainly bring death. Odysseus confronts each challenge without appearing to grow weary or mature. One longs for a deeper glimpse into his psyche, to know the man behind the celebrated war hero.
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Matt Damon delivers one of the finest performances of his career, giving the Homeric hero the bearing of a contemporary protagonist. His Odysseus speaks in a manner that feels both relatable and morally grounded. One particularly memorable sequence involves his encounter with the enormous one-eyed Cyclops. This is Odysseus’s first appearance in the sequence, and he is forced to confront the fact that he is not the most powerful being in the world. His ego struggles to accept this reality. Foolishly, he shoots an arrow at the already-blinded Cyclops, earning the wrath of Poseidon, the Cyclops’s father and the king of the seas.
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In another striking sequence, the witch Circe (played by Samantha Morton) appears, and Nolan introduces elements of body horror. Immediately following Circe’s island comes a breathtaking scene in which Odysseus converses with the dead, souls burdened by unresolved business. Yet even these moments fail to reveal much of the hero’s inner turmoil. The film seems content to present Odysseus as a solitary survivor and hero, taking a long time to arrive at its central proposition.
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Himesh Patel’s portrayal of Eurylochus, Odysseus’s second-in-command, is another standout performance. Compared to Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, and Anne Hathaway, he enjoys considerably more screen time. Travis Scott also appears as a bard, singing songs about Ithaca and wars across the seas.
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Over the centuries, The Odyssey has been translated and adapted countless times, with each version reflecting its creator’s own perspective. Consequently, any claim to strict historical accuracy is impossible. In Nolan’s adaptation, Helen of Troy (played by Lupita Nyong’o) is Black, Odysseus’s second-in-command is Indian, and the lone soldier Sinon (played by Elliot Page), left behind with the Trojan horse, is a trans man.
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The film’s greatest strengths lie in its outstanding ensemble cast and Jennifer Lame’s superb editing. Despite its occasional narrative shortcomings, it remains a visually spectacular and ambitious adaptation of one of the world’s greatest epics.
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Rating: 8/10
Have fun with this one!
