By Lambros Karpodinis
We Greeks are very protective of our heritage and history. And we have every right and obligation to be. After all, there’s no other people that have such a history of contributions that benefited and enlightened the whole world. But being protective of our history comes with the burden of knowing it deeply, having studied it in all its human weaknesses and strengths.
The Iliad and the Odyssey are two poems that circulated starting in 1300 B.C. While Homer is credited as the author, historians are not positive that Homer even existed, let alone having authored two of the greatest works of art.
These two epic poems served as sacred texts, much like the Old Testament, because they gave mortals a glimpse into how the gods responded to human actions. In the poems, the Olympian gods come alive: they intervene in human affairs, punish or favor different characters, demand sacrifices at the proper times, and reveal signs of their intentions. Unlike the God of the Old Testament, the Olympian gods display many human traits, though both traditions portray divine anger at human failings. The Jewish God floods the world and destroys Sodom and Gomorrah, while Zeus hurls lightning bolts and Poseidon churns the seas, wrecking ships and drowning those aboard.
Athena, the virgin goddess and protector of Athens, supports the Greeks in their war against the Trojans and watches over and guides Odysseus. But she must contend with other gods who favor the Trojans, so she does not always prevail.
The Iliad recounts the Greek armies’ expedition to Troy and their siege of the city. After nearly ten years of fighting, Troy’s walls still hold the Greeks back. This is when Odysseus displays his famous talents for subterfuge and guile. He devises a large hollow wooden horse, dedicates it to Athena, and hides soldiers inside it. He then tricks the Trojans into believing the rest of the Greek army has sailed home. The Trojans bring the horse into the city, and that night, while they sleep, the hidden soldiers emerge, open the gates, and let in the Greek army, which conquers Troy.
It is now time for the voyage home, and this is where the Odyssey begins. At first, the winds were favorable, and the journey went smoothly. But things took a turn for the worse when the Greeks landed on the island of the one-eyed monster Polyphemus. While hunting his sheep, they were trapped in his cave and could not escape. Odysseus decided to blind the monster, and the men escaped by tying themselves to the undersides of the sheep. Because Polyphemus was blind, he could not see them when he let the flock out to graze.
Unfortunately for Odysseus, Polyphemus was Poseidon’s son, and the god’s anger over his blinding was terrifying. Odysseus stood little chance. Poseidon unleashed his wrath on the seas, driving Odysseus’s ship to an island where Circe turned his men into pigs. After they escaped Circe, all the men were lost at sea except Odysseus, who washed ashore on the island of the demigoddess Calypso. She nursed him back to health, fell in love with him, and tried to keep him with her forever by offering him eternal life and youth. Yet Odysseus longed to return to Ithaca, to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus.
After many more adventures, ten years had passed before Odysseus finally reached Ithaca. Yet his troubles were not over. Suitors were pursuing his wife, Penelope, hoping to marry her and claim Odysseus’s kingdom and wealth. To their frustration, Penelope remained loyal to Odysseus and kept them at bay by saying she would choose a husband only after finishing the cloth she was weaving. When Odysseus returned home, Penelope recognized him by his skill in shooting an arrow, and he slew all the suitors.
This summary cannot do justice to a five-hundred-page poem, but it offers a brief introduction and may encourage some readers to pick up the book.
Nolan’s movie, while well produced, does not do justice to the poem either. Nothing will. The cast of characters was also controversial. Helen was portrayed by an African actress. Not only is that not accurate, but there was no need to veer so far off the script, as if there were no non-African actresses with great acting skills. Nolan also casts a transsexual man, which I could not figure out who it was.
My thinking is that, since the movie was intended for a worldwide audience, he wanted to make it more appealing to non-Europeans by disregarding the intentions of Homer, who calls Helen “White-armed”.
Apart from the casting choices, the film remained fairly faithful to the poem, though it left out many episodes from the original. After all, a three-hour movie can include only so much of a five-hundred-page work.
Overall, among the many Greek historical epics Hollywood has produced, Nolan’s Odyssey brings the story to life. It may not be exactly what Greeks would have wanted, but we should be pleased that our history is reaching another generation. Today’s youth are not well educated in the classics, and the film is a worthwhile compromise.
Some interesting trivia. Homer’s description of Helen as “white armed”. is an indication of her noble status. Today’s nobles are called “blue bloods”. She did not work the fields, where she would have been sunburnt to brown. Noble women then stayed home, in the women’s quarters, not even venturing out to shop or go to the temple. That was the job of the slaves and servants. The lady of the house occupied herself by directing the household servants, providing medical assistance to her family and servants and raising the children. No wonder Helen went with Paris to Troy. Such a life of drudgery is not for everyone.
The question that many are asking is if Nolan’s intention was to be woke, by casting an African actress–very black at that– as Helen, or a transexual man in another role. No one really knows, except him. And he’s not saying. However, if he alienated too many people, he ran the risk of tanking the chances of the movie returning the $250 million it costs to make. Many movies lose money and could ruin a director’s career. What studio would entrust him with another investment if he bungled the Odyssey? Troy and Alexander the Great movies, where he was made out to be a homosexual, were both failures.
Another point. If a non-Hollywood studio had made the movie, financed by Greek money, its chances of success would have been next to zero. You need big name actors, and the right director, plus the appropriate buzz, which costs another $100 million.
Nolan’s the Odyssey brought the classic to a new generation. The name of Greece and Greeks, Ithaka and Penelope and the beauties of Greece were brought to millions of viewers. Overall, it is good for our patrida
Two recent films go against the notion that you need to spend big money on a production to make big money. Keep in mind, profit isn’t based on what you sell but rather what you net.
Backrooms cost $10,000,000 to make and has grossed $384,300,000MM. Obsession was made for $750,000 and has grossed $459,400,000. The Passion cost $30MM to make and grossed $632.
Odyssey has clearly done very well costing $250,000,000 and has grossed $700MM in 12 days. However, at a $250MM cost, it was a big risk that might not have panned out and has clearly not created a masterpiece of film.
Casting a negro actor to play Helen of Troy & Ellen Paige as a Homeric hero is the lefty woke
Christopher Nolan’s flipping the bird to audience — especially to Greeks!
He’s shown his contempt for you up front. you have a duty to skip this trash film.
Zooey. The Odyssey has grossed overt $625 million worldwide, so far. Not enough people took on your challenge of boycotting the movie. I’d rather see a movie that brings people back to the classics, advertises Greece and awakens interest even in learning Greek, than sulk about the casting of an African actress in such a minor role.
As for Nolan giving Greeks the finger, that is a figment of your imagination. You don’t spend $250 million to spite the Greeks. If that makes sense, then, why don’t you do it? Spend a few hundred million to spite the woke and Nolan also. Talk is cheap.
The fact that it has grossed that much is proof of Hollywoods advertising machine than anything else… Frankly, knowing that it portrays Helen as Black is a gigantic distortion of facts and history. If the movie proclaimed that it would offer a novel interpretation of Odyssey it would be more digestible. But it proclaimed to be based on the original story. The original story nowhere refers to a black Helen and has no transgender actors.
Bob, Zoey, Nick, et al, good points.
I’d like to add a few more. (Caveat: I haven’t seen –nor will I see–the movie):
Nolan’s flick has made $260 million but it cost $200 million to make. It won’t break even unless it makes twice that.
Point #2. The casting of Nyongo as Helen (of Detroit) and Elliot (nee Ellen) Page as Sinon (a character from the Aenid, not from Homer) and some Paki who laughingly says “We are Greeks from Ithaca”) was done because Hollywood has new DEI (Didn’t Earn It) standards if one has any hope of getting Oscar nominations.
Finally, why are no Greeks shouting “Cultural Appropriation!”? We should be, and vociferously so. John Leguiziamo, who plays a Greek character said not that long ago that no non-Latino should play a Latino character.
Are these people so blind that they cannot see the irony of their statements and beliefs?
P.S. the fact that Miss Lyongo who went to Yale, had never heard of Homer should send a strong signal to any parents out there who intend to send their children to the Ivy League. It used to be that you had to know either Greek or Latin to attend these schools.
Invest in a trade school instead.
Nick. I agree with you and with the others that would have been happier if Helen wasn’t cast by an African woman.
But I ask Nick and everyone else. Would you have been happier if this movie was never made? Keep in mind that interest in the Greek language has gone up by 500%. My library has 50 books of the Odyssey by Wilson, whose book was used by Nolan and they’re all checked out and there’s a two months waiting list. Viewings of the Odyssey in IMAX is sold out until September. Other countries would kill to have such good noise made about them.
I don’t know about you, but I was tired of seeing Greece in the news for bankruptcy, forest fires, theft of EU funds. Think about it. Bottom line. Take what we can.
Neither Putin or XI, whom Nick praised as woke-busters, are likely to make a movie of a Greek epic, nor have there ever been any Greek-themed movies ever made by them. Woke Hollywood made it and it has re-ignited talk about a mythic Greece, free of corruption, but also heroic.
If we reduce our goals as Hellenes to the creation of “good noise” by the corrupt and woke elites of Hollywood then we are worthy of our fate. My praise to foreign leaders like Putin and Zi is in the framework of the global battle against woke and globalist ideology.
The sequel to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is in talks to include a sci-fi twist. The film will portray Lupita Nyong’o as a black Helen of Troy who after being abducted by aliens 👽 comes back in the year 2030 as a hybrid black, transgender-cyborg hell bent on revenge against Hollywood film moguls.