Impossible dream

~ MaryG

What’s your biggest dream?

We saw The Odyssey yesterday—the latest blockbuster film from Christopher Nolan. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of Oppenheimer, but it’s not like we were going to skip the biggest film of the summer. (As you may have heard, it’s three hours long and cost 250 million dollars to make.)

I did a bit a “research” beforehand (I watched one video and read one article in the NYT), so I knew some basics about: Zeus‘s Law; Helen of Troy; Ithaca; and the Greek gods Zeus, Athena, Poseidon and Hades. I recommend doing that before seeing it or you will be confused.

My husband, who read way more Greek mythology than me as a kid, but didn’t brush up before the movie, was pretty confused. He gave the film a resounding “Meh.” In addition to being confused, he felt that none of the characters were particularly well developed.

My take home message was this: war is hell and (most) men are pigs.

The best scene in the film is when the witch Circe (brilliantly played by Samantha Morton) turns Odysseus’ men into actual pigs. It’s not a subtle message.

And as if to make the point more clear, I read these two bits of news upon my return from the theater:

Pig Trump

Pig Hegseth

As I watched 3,000 year old Troy burn, I couldn’t help but think of Tehran, Gaza, Kyiv, Manhattan and scores of other cities and countries that have seen bombings and other manmade violence in my lifetime alone. Some places are getting drone-bombed right now for God’s sake.

War just never seems to go away permanently. Where there are men, there are wars.

A world without war seems an impossible dream.

9 thoughts on “Impossible dream”

  2. I’m glad I’ve read your review as we were debating the idea of going to see the film. I’m not great with long films that demand huge concentration since I went through the menopause. It always seems like too much hard work when you should be enjoying yourself?

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  3. When I was young, I was into Greek myths and I read the Iliad and the Odyssey in college. So I was very familiar with the myths and stories and wasn’t confused, despite the changes Nolan made. However, my take on the movie was the same as your husband’s: meh. I thought Damon was a meat-and-potatoes Odysseus without any of the slyness and cleverness of the original. Like you, I thought Samantha Morton was terrific, and the pig-scene striking. I also thought your take on the film’s message about war was spot on, and that message is no small thing. Still, a movie has to be more than its message, with vivid characters that resonate, and in that sense the movie failed. A problem, I think, with many of Nolan’s movies.

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    1. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the film Laurie! You’re a true film buff, so I really appreciate your reviews. Why do you think Nolan continues to amass such great acclaim and huge budget for his films, when the “meh” factor is so high?? Do you think he’s just a Hollywood Golden Boy that the critics have propped up? Or maybe anyone that can deliver anything close to good on such a grand scale gets undue respect? Imagine managing THAT many moving parts on locations around the world.

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      1. Thanks, Mary! Not everyone is as character oriented as we are. Some movie-goers like concepts and spectacles, and in that way Nolan, as you noted, sure delivers. And it’s no small thing to be able to pull things together that are on such a grand scale. But for those of us who care about character, there will always be something missing from Nolan’s movies.

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  4. I admit I’m probably going to take a pass on this movie. Even the people who liked it are full of criticism. Granted, taking on an epic story like that is going to present challenges but Matt Damon as the lead leaves me a bit cold. Not enough gravitas for Odysseus.
    As for the message, war IS hell but sadly it’s a lesson we never seem to learn.

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