The Odyssey

Back in Junior High school, I fell in love with Greek mythology for two reasons : The movie Clash of the Titans from the early 1980’s, and a wonderful 8th grade literature teacher that pushed us out of our norms. I’ve been forever grateful for both. Having grown up with a singular, overbearing religious mentality I yearned for an alternative to look at Gods and the world of men.

Suffice it to say, I was looking forward to Christopher Nolan’s movie The Odyssey. I’ve been a fan of his work since seeing Memento. I don’t recall much of Homer’s epic poem, but was looking forward to a big screen adaptation. I can’t get this movie out of my head. There are scenes here that will stay with me for quite awhile. The story of the true cost and horrors of war, both on a grand loss of life scale as well as the torment it can have on your own soul. The feeling of peeling back one’s skin to reveal who you really are, then going back into your disguises of a person’s everyday skin.

It shows true love for a wife and son, devotion to a father you never knew, atonement and forgiveness from both The Gods as well as your fellow men in arms all worked for me. The nightmarish Cyclops and brutal Giants, the Sirens song and the dangers in Poseidon’s oceans. How a man can become so lost in ambition and cruelty. I could go on and on. If you are interested in a cinematic interpretation of a Greek tragedy on the big screen, prepare yourself for a three hour masterpiece.