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As the story goes, when Rabbi Hillel was asked to teach the whole Torah while standing on one foot, the famed Jewish scholar of the 1st century BCE replied, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah. All the rest is commentary; go and study it.”
Jesus turned the admonition into a positive commandment now known as the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
The same sacred idea is expressed in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the Odyssey: “Treat others the way you wish to be treated.” While the line does not exist in Homer’s text, the ancient Greeks did indeed hold this value. The Greek philosopher Thales said, “Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.”
Christopher Nolan also coined the phrase Zeus’ Law to characterize the Greek religious precept governing hospitality, xenia, and has Odysseus express remorse for abusing the code of hospitality with that most devious of tricks, the Trojan Horse.
Nolan takes many such liberties with the epic poem and certainly contemporizes both the hero and the moral of the story. He embellishes, rearranges, condenses, and has been taken to task for his reframing of the foundational masterwork of Western literature.
The Odyssey is regarded as the ultimate cultural touchstone for storytelling, and admired for its use of flashbacks, formal heroic meter, its complex hero, and its combination of mythic fantasy and touching family drama.
Nolan may get some little things wrong, such as the type of ship being sailed on the Aegean Sea, and he is certainly guilty of reimagining the world’s most enduring narrative.
But Homer, if such a person even existed, would no doubt be quite delighted to find his epic poem being so enthusiastically embraced by modern audiences. He would also no doubt envy the special effects budget afforded to Nolan. The director with the Midas touch has crafted an undeniably exciting and satisfying blockbuster from the tall tales recited by professional storytellers at festivals, banquets and public squares in the ancient world.
I had an epiphany while watching Nolan’s hugely entertaining retelling of a classic piece of literature. While Homer’s epic poem is revered as a stunning literary work that sheds light on the life in ancient Greece, that does not make it unsuitable for the big IMAX screen. Quite the contrary.
As I watched the movie, I realized that Homer’s Odyssey was itself a blockbuster. It was written, or rather composed over time by numerous “authors” as an oral story, to impress the public. It is an action-packed adventure story, a fantastical, thrilling superhero drama. It has everything an ancient and a modern audience could want.
Nolan took a book that you were supposed to read in high school because it was good for you, dusted it off, and saw its universal appeal as well as its potential to thrill an audience. It is, after all, a hell of a tale, filled with gods and monsters, shipwrecks and sword fights, bloody battles and tests of loyalty, supernatural shenanigans and human chicanery, sexual temptations and quests for glory. It boasts heroes and villains, moral dilemmas, and damsels in distress.
Much has been made of Nolan’s emphasis on the remorse and guilt our modern movie hero feels. Homer conjured up a more straightforward warrior to conquer demons, face unimaginable challenges and win the day. But Nolan is in no way to be faulted for allowing human emotions to surface in a man who has seen great suffering.
Today we understand the consequences of war and the high price paid by those who engage in it. Matt Damon’s Odysseus does not exactly suffer from PTSD, but who can blame him for shouldering the heavy burden of responsibility he carries for the death of his men? But when the time comes, he mans up nicely. It helps that Damon delivers a compelling performance and is well matched by the actors around him.
It may be a bit jarring when Telemachus (Tom Holland) calls Odysseus “dad” rather than “father.” But why quibble?
We must also remember that the film is not a history lesson. After all, Homer’s Odyssey is not a historical narrative. It is mythology, albeit presumably woven around some historical events, such as specific wars and leaders in the Iron Age that have been lost to time. The Trojan horse is nothing more and nothing less than an incredibly clever leap of literary imagination.
Nolan does not treat his source material with reverence. A master storyteller himself, he knows better. Instead, he treats this timeless story with admiration and respect, forcing modern audiences into renewed appreciation for the first adventure story in Western literature. And what a doozy it is.
