THE ODYSSEY .FILMREVIEW

THE ODYSSEY .FILMREVIEW .4

WHAT COMES AFTER THE WAR?

After the endless rage that was unleashed upon innocents. After the fire that ate their houses. After the swords that slit their necks, mothers and their sons. After the decapitation of Athena's statue. After the tall bricks they used to call home came crushing down. What comes after all that? 

A journey. Thousands of men trying to go back home. But it wasnt any journey for the man behind it all. The genius with his horse.

The Odyssey is not the story of a hero returning to his home after the war. It is a story of how Odysseus found out that there isnt a true return after the war. That the journey would be followed with the consequences of his action. It is a story of facing the unbearable grief, and how one deals with it. This is my interpretation of Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey, which can only be described with one word. 

Epic.

Shot entirely on IMAX, three hours long, a-list cast, music composed by Ludwig Gorannson. It is extraordinary and grand, which something that everybody is expecting. After serving us the political biopic of J Robert Oppenheimer, Nolan is back with perhaps a century long story, with Homer's The Odyssey. I have seen the lashes that this film got for casting Elliot Page and Lupita, which is just blatant racism and transphobia. Dont let anyone tell you that this film isnt great, because it is absolutely phenomenal. Even if you didnt watched it on IMAX like i did, you're definitely still immersed in the story. 

Another thing that I also wanted to talk about, is how Nolan incoporated Horror into this film. With a story involving monsters and gods, it's only right that you showed how terrifying they are using Horror elements. And i feel like he nailed it with the appearance of that Cyclops Monster or whatever the name is, because I was clutching my arm during that scene. I remember seeing Nolan talked about wanting to adapt a Horror Story, which i think he should really do. From monster horror to body horror, he showed hints of what he can do.

But if we looked at the bigger picture, The Odyssey is truly a horror story itself. It is the horror of facing consequences of your own actions, of facing guilt. The guilt that Odysseus took with him, manifested through Monsters, Gods, and Storms. Each of them taking what is valuable to Odysseus, mostly the lives of his own men, but more importantly time. Away from Ithaca, away from his wife and his son. Because what Odysseus found out along the journey, is that he has become a new person after the war, and he must confront the truth. How? Well by paying some kind of price before he ever truly step his foot back in Ithaca. A punishment if you will.

Ithaca itself became somewhat a myth to him because of the amount of time that he was away. It doesnt just represent his home but also the life before the war. The life that he became desperately wants, but may no longer be worthy of, or capable of returning unchanged. He now carries the tears of the people that is supposedly his enemy. But what is an enemy when all of us are human? Didnt Zeus told us to treat other with absolute respect for they may be a god in disguise? Even if they arent, what harm comes from treating other like you would want to be treated?

So to answer, what comes after the war is not easy. But what is certain is the consequences that follows. For Odysseus, it is the guilt of seeing the city of Troy being destroyed, and realizing how its no difference from his own home. And how that guilt made his journey back home a hard one. Because the war didnt made anybody a hero, its was simply about who survives and who doesnt. No one got to have their happy ending, if anything the war destroyed any chances of it happening.

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