As always, dear readers, welcome.

The second part of “Solution” will appear next week.

In the meantime, as promised, I’ve been to see Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey,

but I’m going to break my usual rule of seeing it twice before writing about it—having just seen it yesterday, it’s all very vivid in my mind.  I will certainly keep to my constant rule of avoiding destructive criticism, however, which often seems to crowd the internet and which is not only depressing, but, worse, unhelpful.

I would begin by saying that the film is well-acted and the effects are large-scale and, on that scale, impressive.  It’s clear that an enormous amount of work on the part of everyone involved went to making the film.  And yet, for me—and for the poem—something important—even vital—is lacking and you can see it in my title. 

I’ve written earlier that I was disappointed with Troy (2006),

not only for the changes to the story but perhaps more important for the removal of the gods.  Both The Iliad and The Odyssey are, at base, deeply religious works.  The Trojan War itself was said to take place because (and be prepared for complications):

1. Zeus, head of the gods, lusts after Thetis, a sea goddess

2. but, when told that a prophecy predicts that their child will be more powerful than his father, marries her off to a mortal, Peleus, instead.

(Thetis isn’t easy to catch—Peleus is shown here wrestling with a shape-shifting goddess)

3.  to the wedding, it happens that another goddess, Eris (“Strife/Discord”), isn’t invited (not a surprise—and you probably know this motif from “Sleeping Beauty”) and, in revenge, she bowls in a golden ball or apple with the words “For the Most Beautiful” on it into the feast.

4. Three goddess, Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite then argue over who deserves it and, when Zeus refuses to choose, they find a mortal shepherd, Paris—presumably neutral—to judge.

5. Aphrodite wins by offering Paris the most beautiful woman in the world, who just happens:

a. to be Helen, a demigoddess (father Zeus)

b. to be already married to Menelaus, the younger brother of the high king of Greece, Agamemnon

6. Paris, however, isn’t really a shepherd, but the long-lost prince of Troy and, when that’s revealed, he goes on a diplomatic mission to Greece and either persuades Helen to leave with him, or steals her, carrying her back to Troy.

7. the major kings of Greece were once Helen’s suitors but, as she could pick only one, the rest took an oath to protect her.

8. and so big brother Agamemnon, when Menelaus complained that his wife was gone, called on those kings to join an expedition to bring her back—and the Trojan War began.

9. the gods—except for Zeus—then took sides and aggressively backed either the Greeks or the Trojans through the ten years of the war.

As you can see, at every step of the war, one or more divinities was involved—and sometimes very actively.

Although fewer gods are involved in The Odyssey, one goddess, Athena, is a major player throughout.

In fact, the poem begins with her on Olympus, appealing to Zeus to free Odysseus from the clutches of Calypso, with whom he’s been marooned for seven years.

She then (sorry for a second list, but, again, it’s complicated)–

1.  goes to Ithaka to help Telemachos, Odysseus’ son, to grow up, appearing both as Mentes, a guest friend of Odysseus, and then as Mentor, an Ithakan elder, as whom she travels with Telemachos to mainland Greece, first to the most senior of all Greek heroes, Nestor, and then on to Sparta, to see Menelaus and Helen, now brought back from fallen Troy. 

2. continuing in her disguises, pops up when Odysseus, on his way home from Calypso (it takes a second try for Athena to get Zeus to send Hermes to order Kalypso to help him to go home), lands on the island of the Phaeacians (left out of the film entirely) where she appears first, as a little girl who directs him to the house of Alcinous, the king of the Phaeacians, and then as a spectator at the athletic event in which Odysseus participates. 

3. appears to Odysseus, disguised as a shepherd boy, after the Phaeacians take Odysseus home, and he awakes on a beach on his home island of Ithaka.

4. is more present from then on, giving Odysseus his beggar disguise and appearing to Odysseus as herself when she pushes him to reveal himself to Telemachos at the hut of Eumaeus, the swineherd (who is not blind in the poem, by the way).

5.  in Odysseus’ home, first encourages him to believe that, with her help he can beat the suitors, and then appearing for a final time to put the suitors into a panic when Odysseus, Telemachos, and their two servants destroy all of them and their attendants.  (No one surrenders in the poem.)

6.  makes a final appearance in the poem appealing once more to Zeus, this time as to how to resolve the conflict between Odysseus and the vengeful families of the suitors. 

She is a busy character, in fact, helping both Odysseus and his son, but Nolan’s script has almost entirely erased her and certainly has removed all of her help and, as you can see from 1-6 above, she is actually an active participant throughout the poem, even being the reason why—through her pushing Zeus to send Hermes to Calypso—Odysseus actually goes home.  To allow her to be nothing more than an occasional visitor and a passive one, at that, is to misrepresent not only the story, but the character of Odysseus.  (Who, by the way, unlike in the film, has no guilt or regret over his actions and certainly doesn’t sail off into the sunset with Penelope on a mission to commemorate his dead crewmen.)

That poster I’ve used as the first image in this posting has a subtitle:  “defy the gods”, something Odysseus, with a goddess for a patron, would never think of doing, is actually more like the motto of the film.  In the poem which is the basis of the film, Odysseus survives and even wins because he has a goddess for a patron.  Without her, would he have ever returned and, having returned, would he have survived the suitors and their angry families?

So, is this a film which I would recommend?  In fact, with rare exceptions, I would recommend that everyone see/listen to any and all art and decide for her/himself as to its value, entertainment or otherwise.  In this case, I would say certainly, go and see it, but I would also encourage you to read the poem first—preferably in Richmond Lattimore’s translation

which, although now some 60 years old (original publication 1965), is still the closest of modern translations to the original Greek and the one I’ve used in classes for many years.  Of necessity, although 3 hours long, the film leaves out many details, but, at the same time, as I hope I make clear, it also changes the text significantly, and, for me, those changes turn it from the ancient story to Christopher Nolan’s story and it is up to you, as readers and viewers, to decide which you would prefer–or perhaps you would keep both, even though being aware that the two differ significantly.  As a student once said to me about Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, “If you haven’t read the book, they are fun adventure movies”.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stay well,

If you make a surprise visit to a very large man in a cave, plan ahead what to do if you’re not welcome,

And remember that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

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