Summer Blockbuster

Alejandro and I went to the movie theater at the nearby World Trade Center to see this summer's blockbuster, "The Odyssey".

Long before the movie ever premiered, it generated an enormous amount of controversy over the casting of black actress Lupita Nyong'o in the role of Helen of Troy.  Even though Nyong'o's acting in the movie was excellent, and I get so sick and tired of the right wing's constant shouting of "Woke!", I will admit that her appearance was a bit jarring.  But at the end of the day, the characters are mythological, NOT historical people!  Furthermore, I doubt if ANY of the actors in the movie are of Greek ancestry.

Putting the controversy aside, it is certainly a superb piece of filmmaking.  The cinematography was top-notch (it probably would have been even more impressive if we had seen it at an IMAX theater).  The acting was consistently excellent.   (My favorite performance was that of Anne Hathaway as Odysseus's wife Penelope.)  In spite of the movie's run-time of around three hours, I was never bored or restless.

Obviously, it is impossible to condense the epic poem into a film, even if it does run three hours.  I have never read "The Odyssey", but in school we read in prose form many of its stories.  Without even doing any research, I knew that the director, Christopher Nolan, had taken liberties with the tale.  The witch Circe is not portrayed, as she usually is, as a seductress.  In the movie Odysseus does not spend a year with her, nor does she bear him a son.  In the movie the stories of the Lotus Eaters and of the nymph Calypso, with whom the hero spent seven years, are conflated into one episode.  Eating the lotus flower causes blissful forgetfulness, so the movie viewer can forgive the hero for tarrying so long before returning to Penelope.  In ancient Greece, the concept of marital fidelity did not exist for men, but I suspect that the director made these changes so that Odysseus would not appear to be an unfaithful cad to his modern audience.

The movie is highly recommended.  However, it seems that some are praising this movie as one of the greatest achievements in the history of filmmaking.  Yes, it's great movie entertainment that will probably receive a ton of well deserved Oscar nominations.  But was I profoundly emotionally moved by it?  Did I leave the theatre in raptures?  No.