FILM REVIEW
THE ODYSSEY
Rated R
172 Minutes
Released July 17th
This is an epic work of cinema to celebrate an ancient poem from a complex society that existed on our Earth. The poem was not created by Homer. It was born and crafted through the rich tradition of oral storytelling in ancient Greece, first composed around the late 8th or 7th century BCE – that’s about 2700 years ago.
Most of the population of the time could not read or write, so it was meant to be performed – an entertainment, albeit an enlightening one. Troubadours would tell or sing the story to anyone who would listen. Cinema today is our form of traveling minstrel. How wonderful would it be for us to take some time away from the TV some evenings, go out and sit and listen to a poet or singer reciting a tale?
The legend of Odysseus is about a warrior and his army of embattled soldiers trying to return home to Greece by sea at the end of a war. The eminent British American director Sir Christopher Nolan shot The Odyssey on 70mm IMAX film, with the outdoor scenes on location in Greece, Morocco, Sicily, Iceland, Scotland, and England. Nolan here varies from his signature style of carving puzzle pieces of his stories and fitting them together loosely. With The Odyssey, he honored the original bards and Homer by telling the tale as a troubadour would tell it.
This is Nolan’s 13th feature film. He describes The Odyssey as the largest and most challenging production of his career. As a boy growing up in London and in Illinois, he made Super 8 short films with his brother. He met his wife, now his producing partner, Emma Thomas, at a school film society when they were both students at University College London.
The realistic way in which Nolan shot The Odyssey required that the cast and filmmakers essentially live the adventure. He wanted to film on location to truly re-enact, as he put it, “how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world.” To take this approach in filmmaking is arduous and can be dangerous, as I learned long ago working on the set of John Boorman’s Deliverance, where the wild river and the weather was an uncontrollable element in each day’s shoot. But this kind of authentic filmmaking is the purest of cinematic art.
For Nolan, extensive planning and preparation were mandatory in shooting every scene. He is adamant about using props, costumes, and settings that are as realistic as possible. The ship that was used for Odysseus and his crew was built to ancient specifications in Norway, and its crew became part of the cast.
The landscapes are what you would conjure reading Homer’s poem. One scene was filmed at the Italian island of Favignana, believed to be the spot where Homer envisioned Odysseus and his loyal crew landing to stock up on food. The cave in the film where they encounter the Cyclops, called Nestor’s Cave, has been used by humans since the Neolithic period. The underworld sequences were filmed in Iceland in the eerie midnight sun.
Nolan has long championed the use of IMAX technology. He challenged that company to develop cameras for the shoot that were lighter and quicker, and their designers rose to the challenge.
The soundtrack by composer Ludwig Goransson is uniquely tailored to the action and emotions. It’s a work of art. This is his third collaboration with Nolan. They worked closely together on the film’s sound environment, and Goransson spent nine months creating a soundtrack without orchestra, only using ancient Greek instruments. The music over the end credits is haunting, a neo-classical composition co-written by Nolan and performed by Travis Scott and James Blake.
To me, it is suggestive of trap music, a contemporary style which has its roots in struggle.
A team of 500 people stationed in Los Angeles, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Iceland, Scotland, Spain, England, New York, and New Zealand created 5300 costumes for the film, with extraordinary attention to detail.
Designer Ellen Mirojnik wanted to avoid the bright bronze armor usually depicted on film, so each piece was aged by hand. In IMAX format, synthetic fabrics look glaringly unnatural, so all had to be made with natural materials, hand-loomed cloth, and natural dyes. The costumers even researched how the materials in the soldiers’ clothing and armor would degrade in the elements throughout the journey. Ancient Greeks did not wear wigs, so none were used, but they did have barbers, so it was relatively easy to recreate authentic hairstyles.
You may be so mesmerized by the immersion into the landscape that you don’t realize how nuanced a performance each actor gives. The cast assembled by Nolan and veteran casting director John Papsidera is so perfect, it’s as if they emerged out of the pages of the poem. The work of the film’s stars is some of the best in their careers.
Matt Damon shows Odysseus’ transformation from a young warrior heady with the challenge of vanquishing his enemies, to a man who has seen unbearable tragedy and now questions his choices and his existence. Anne Hathaway has never been better as Odysseus’ wife “Penelope,” who battles alone to stay true to her hope that Odysseus will return.
John Leguizamo is entrancing as the blind “Eumaeus.” Charlize Theron as “Calypso,” Elliot Page as “Sinon,” Tom Holland as “Telemachus,” Lupita Nyong’o as “Helen of Troy” and “Clytemnestra,” and Samantha Morton as “Circe,” are some of the performances so real you forget you’re watching actors. The Cyclops “Polyphemus” is depicted by a 20-foot-tall anthropomorphic animatronic puppet brought to life by Bill Irwin, and even that fantastical creature looks real.
I believe that Nolan’s The Odyssey will be the Star Wars of the 21st Century for cinema, bringing back the awe we sense upon being transported to a familiar tale taking place in a world not our own. It’s a poem of a civilization that no longer exists. Nolan hinted at the presence of the Greek gods by showing natural phenomena that were inexplicable to people of those times. We see the world as the Greeks saw it – that’s the key to the immersive quality of this movie. The Odyssey is a universal tale quilted together from our ancestral dreams, longings, fears and loves, the stuff of our musing as we tread across this worldly stage of ours.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
