Director Yannis Smaragdis intervenes in an interview with Naftemporiki, delivering sharp criticism of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. He discusses the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, the demands of inclusivity, the Hollywood system, and the danger that future generations may come to believe that the altered cinematic hero is the real Homeric Odysseus.
“What I see is not Greece,” he says, emphasizing that Odysseus is not merely a mythological figure but “the soul of the Greeks.” At the same time, he compares the $250 million blockbuster with his own $5 million film Kapodistrias, comments on Elon Musk’s intervention in the debate, and reveals his plans for a new major film about Theodoros Kolokotronis.
YOU CAN WATCH THE INTERVIEW BELOW -= ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Helen of Troy was a beautiful white woman of Greece —
that film actor aping her?
Is NOT‼️
I believe mr Smaragdis in a way did the same thing to Kapodistrias! He didn’t present him as black, but he failed to declare him as the real leader of the Greek revolution that he was and attributed his assassination to a personal feud with the Mavromichalis family!
He painted him as a saint, but he hid Kapodistrias’ feud with the freemasons and followed the “formal” fake history that is taught at schools…
I think it was clear in the end of the movie that Kapodistrias’ assassination was plotted by the British… The Mavromihalis Family were just the pawns as the various suspicious “actors” of Hydra…
Yannis made excellent comments. Odyssey movie is not Greece nor does not represent the Ancient Greeks. A minority of Greeks are the idiots who think this movie is great. The majority of Greeks are afraid to speak out for fear of being called ‘racist’. The woke DEI agenda is dead in the USA. There is a backlash in the USA against Hollywood trash films and Disney promoting the homosexual agenda onto kids. People are not rushing to watch this trash film. Hollywood died because people woke up how most of the Hollywood crowd are Satanic, pedophiles, and anti-Christian/Western Civilization. Wake up. The Orthodox converts in America are conservative and right wing. Young women are dressing in long dresses going to church. Young men are growing beards and learning to build things again.
It’s sad that Robert Redford passed away. He would have made an excellent Martin Luther King, Jr.
George. I am opposed to Nolan using a (very) black actress as Hellen. She’s nowhere near the most beautiful woman in the world. Nor is she “what armed”, as Homer describes her. Side note here: White armed indicated that she was a noble woman, who didn’t work in the fields, to get dark as common people were. Noble women didn’t go outside of their home, throughout most of her life.
Having said that, I think that Nolan used the African woman, the transexual man and the Asian, to appeal to most of the world, since the movie is intended for worldwide release. I doubt that he was being woke, because when 250 million dollars are on the line, you don’t want to do anything to jeopardize your investment’s chances of making a profit.
The difference is that if MLK is played by a white man, then, the story would not make sense. Skin color is central to the MLK story. He resisted racism and he was imprisoned and beat up and finally assassinated, ONLY because of his color. While Helen’s appearence in the movie is fleeting.
Overall, Nolan’s Odyssey has been positive for Greece’s image and for her heritage of contributions to the world.
Bob – what do you mean “Most of the World”? If we are to believe that “most of the world” believes the insane woke Hollywood standards, humanity is finished… Thanks to Putin, XI and other world leaders the overwhelming majority of humanity has rejected Hollywood loudly… Why do you think there are so many converts to Orthodoxy and Castholicism? They are trying to return to normalcy…
Nick. By “most of the world” I mean Nolan wanted to attract audiences that are not white. Most of the world is not white. Again, I doubt that Nolan would have risked the $250 million investment just to be Woke. The appearance of the African actress is not more than 5 minutes out of three hours total. I wish they had someone that was Greek, but, we can’t be choosers when no Greek is going to invest such an astronomical amount to make a movie, that might bomb.
Woke or not woke, people like Hollywood movies. Look at the Greek made movie “Cliffs of Freedom”. About the 1821 revolution. I couldn’t watch it. It was terrible. Look at the Kapodistrias movie. Who would watch it if they’re not Greek? You have to appeal to as many audiences as possible.
Putin and Xi are no saviors from Wokeness. It would be up to us, to kill wokeness by renouncing it no matter from where it comes from. Hollywood or Fox News The left or the right.
People appreciate the truth – in this case historical truth – more than they appreciate flattery from Hollywood…And no people do not like Hollywood movies recently – they did like them decades ago – even in the Soviet Union and in communist countries they liked them in the 1960s, 70s and 80s…
But now people do not buy the woke LBBTQ agenda and their governments decide respectively. The LGBTQ agenda is rejected by mosto of the people and most of the world’s countries..
I betcha Smaragdis next film on Koloktronis will also be panned just like the horribly bad reviews of his most recent Kapodistrias, due to his over dramatic hagiography portrayals. Outside of the Greek diaspora, his films are never Hollywood blockbusters, mostly for cultural community not mainstream cinema.