Christopher Nolan is filming the Odyssey.\u00a0 And, of all people, Matt Damn will be Odysseus.\u00a0 And his son Telemachus will be played by Spiderman (Tom Holland) and Charlize Theron will be Circe.\u00a0 Anne Hathaway is listed high in the credits so I fear she will be Penelope.\u00a0 And most frightening of all, John Leguizamo is in the cast.\u00a0 I guess I should be grateful that Pee Wee Herman is dead or maybe he would be cast as Achilles or Zeus.<\/p>\n
Christopher Nolan is a talented director.\u00a0 Could the movie turn out to be an entertaining and well-made film?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 But based on the cast I\u2019m pretty sure it will have only the most tangential connection to Homer\u2019s poem.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing Damon will channel his character in the Bourne Identity and kill the suitors in a blur of shaky cam footage.\u00a0 Maybe he can use his character development from \u201cThe Martian\u201d to recreate Odysseus\u2019s sense of abandonment on Ogygia with Calypso.\u00a0 And come to think of it, Calypso can be played by RuPaul in drag.<\/p>\n
No kidding, we\u2019ve finally reached a point where special effects are good enough to show the scene in Polyphemus\u2019s cave believably and what will render the story unfilmable will be the ethnicity of the characters.\u00a0 In order to be eligible for Academy Awards, there will need to be a certain number of non-white and non-straight actors distributed among the most important roles.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing that blonde Helen and specifically red-haired Menelaus will have to be portrayed by Australian aborigines and the Sirens will be transgender creatures.\u00a0 Who knows, just to win Best Picture he\u2019ll have to make several of Sylla\u2019s heads look like prominent Republicans.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m probably painting this thing impossibly more negative than it needs to be.\u00a0 But I think that Christopher Nolan is the closest thing to a good director left in Hollywood and the fact that he\u2019s casting the movie with woke actors and following the DEI guidelines reinforces my worst premonitions for what this will end up being.\u00a0 Well, why not?\u00a0 Instead of Odysseus, the Sacker of Cities, we\u2019ll get Matt Damon, Keeper of Safe Spaces.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure that instead of putting the hundred plus Suitors of Penelope to the sword, he\u2019ll sue them in the court of public opinion and then realize that fighting for his wife\u2019s honor is a toxic patriarchal practice that assumes that Penelope needs him to return when instead she could have shacked-up with Clytemnestra and ruled Ithaca as the first lesbian power couple of the Bronze Age.<\/p>\n
And obviously, his son Telemachus would have discovered that he was born in the wrong body and want to be called Telemacha from then on.\u00a0 And all of Odysseus\u2019s slaves will have read Ibram X. Kendi and will rise up and decolonize Ithaca.<\/p>\n
Well, I guess everything in the world is backwards at the moment and we\u2019ll have to wait for a different motion picture environment before something like an authentic Odyssey is possible.\u00a0 I guess the good news is that the book is still there to read.<\/p>\n
The Odyssey<\/strong><\/p>\n Sing in me, Muse, and through me tell the story<\/strong><\/p>\n of that man skilled in all ways of contending,<\/strong><\/p>\n the wanderer, harried for years on end,<\/strong><\/p>\n after he plundered the stronghold<\/strong><\/p>\n on the proud height of Troy.<\/strong><\/p>\n He saw the townlands<\/strong><\/p>\n and learned the minds of many distant men,<\/strong><\/p>\n and weathered many bitter nights and days<\/strong><\/p>\n in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only<\/strong><\/p>\n to save his life, to bring his shipmates home.<\/strong><\/p>\n But not by will nor valor could he save them,<\/strong><\/p>\n for their own recklessness destroyed them all \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n children and fools, they killed and feasted on<\/strong><\/p>\n the cattle of Lord H\u00ealios, the Sun,<\/strong><\/p>\n and he who moves all day through the heaven<\/strong><\/p>\n took from their eyes the dawn of their return<\/strong><\/p>\n (Translated by Robert Fitzgerald (1961))<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u1f04\u03bd\u03b4\u03c1\u03b1 \u03bc\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f14\u03bd\u03bd\u03b5\u03c0\u03b5, \u03bc\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b1, \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03cd\u03c4\u03c1\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03bd, \u1f43\u03c2 \u03bc\u03ac\u03bb\u03b1 \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03c0\u03bb\u03ac\u03b3\u03c7\u03b8\u03b7, \u1f10\u03c0\u03b5\u1f76 \u03a4\u03c1\u03bf\u03af\u03b7\u03c2 \u1f31\u03b5\u03c1\u1f78\u03bd \u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03af\u03b5\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u1f14\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03c9\u03bd \u1f34\u03b4\u03b5\u03bd \u1f04\u03c3\u03c4\u03b5\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u03cc\u03bf\u03bd \u1f14\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9,<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u1f70 \u03b4\u1fbd \u1f45 \u03b3\u1fbd \u1f10\u03bd \u03c0\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u1ff3 \u03c0\u03ac\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd \u1f04\u03bb\u03b3\u03b5\u03b1 \u1f43\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b8\u03c5\u03bc\u03cc\u03bd,<\/strong><\/p>\n \u1f00\u03c1\u03bd\u03cd\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f25\u03bd \u03c4\u03b5 \u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u1f74\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bd\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u1f11\u03c4\u03b1\u03af\u03c1\u03c9\u03bd.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u1f00\u03bb\u03bb\u1fbd \u03bf\u1f50\u03b4\u1fbd \u1f63\u03c2 \u1f11\u03c4\u03ac\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 \u1f10\u03c1\u03c1\u03cd\u03c3\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf, \u1f31\u03ad\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 \u03c0\u03b5\u03c1:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b3\u1f70\u03c1 \u03c3\u03c6\u03b5\u03c4\u03ad\u03c1\u1fc3\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f00\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03bb\u03af\u1fc3\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f44\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf,<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03bd\u03ae\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9, \u03bf\u1f33 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b2\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c2 \u1f59\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 \u1f28\u03b5\u03bb\u03af\u03bf\u03b9\u03bf<\/strong><\/p>\n \u1f24\u03c3\u03b8\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd: \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f70\u03c1 \u1f41 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f00\u03c6\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf \u03bd\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03bd \u1f26\u03bc\u03b1\u03c1.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u1f01\u03bc\u03cc\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd \u03b3\u03b5, \u03b8\u03b5\u03ac, \u03b8\u03cd\u03b3\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1 \u0394\u03b9\u03cc\u03c2, \u03b5\u1f30\u03c0\u1f72 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f21\u03bc\u1fd6\u03bd.<\/strong><\/p>\n (Homer circa 1,000 BC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christopher Nolan is filming the Odyssey.\u00a0 And, of all people, Matt Damn will be Odysseus.\u00a0 And his son Telemachus will be played by Spiderman (Tom<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[241,239,237,4,242,243],"tags":[4536,509,832,833],"class_list":["post-34192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","category-sff","category-sff-book-reviews","category-sff-movie-reviews","tag-christopher-nolan","tag-matt-damon","tag-odysseus","tag-the-odyssey"],"yoast_head":"\n