Christopher Nolan’s take on the 2,800-year-old epic poem, “The Odyssey,” which opened this past weekend in first place at the box office and earned a reported $124 million, has been one of the summer’s most anticipated films — and it’s easy to see why. Outside of the fact that Nolan just doesn’t seem to make bad movies, it’s also the first time anyone has attempted to depict this classic tale on the big screen in more than 70 years.
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Perhaps part of the reason for such a long gap is that elements of the story are so foundational to the way we see the ideas of heroism, struggle and family that they pop up in other mediums often enough that we never really feel the original’s absence. The film is worth seeing, though, and the nearly three-hour runtime feels much shorter as Nolan crafts a story that jumps through time in a way that’s simultaneously disorienting yet clarifying for following along with Odysseus’s journey and the family he left behind.
Moreover, much of the controversy surrounding elements like casting choices is quickly forgotten once the story starts.
At its core, The Odyssey remains a story about a man trying to get home while wrestling with the question of whether he is worthy of doing so. While Nolan’s version takes liberties with the original tale, they’re mostly in service of helping the audience follow along with Odysseus as he struggles to find that answer.
And understanding that struggle is important because, in many ways, it highlights the best answer our culture can offer and why that answer still falls woefully short of what we need.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ryan Denison and originally published by the Denison Forum. Contributed to by The Baptist Paper. Note: Reviews of films, books, music or other media that appear in The Baptist Paper are intended to help readers evaluate current media for themselves, their children and grandchildren in order to decide whether to watch, read or listen. Reviews are not an endorsement by the writer or TAB Media Group.
