Let’s Talk Cinema with Jerm: The Nolan Conundrum

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“Of the many things hidden from the knowledge of man, nothing is more unintelligible than the human heart.”
— Homer

Oh, how fickle we humans are. Our emotions, our feelings, our opinions, our desires, our motivations. All of them are complicated, hard to understand, messy, and confusing. Sometimes we think we know and understand our own hearts, but can they truly be trusted? How does one differentiate the heart from the brain, or the gut? I am not sure there is an answer. Humanity has wrestled with these questions for all of history, and yet we are no closer to solving the conundrum. I doubt we ever will be.

My feelings on Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey fall directly into this conundrum. I have been processing this film for several days, unsure if I can even put into words how I feel. Now I am debating watching it again just to see if I can sort it all out. Sometimes I feel like I hated the film. Other times I think it was amazing. I am not sure I have ever been so conflicted about a movie before. All of that is to say that I am not sure my thoughts and opinions can be trusted at the moment, but here I am writing about it anyway because writing helps me sort out my brain.

The Good

The grandeur and spectacle that typically come with a Christopher Nolan film did not disappoint. Anytime a director brings a story to life on this scale, he deserves all the flowers. I love epics, and Nolan is the king of them. We do not see many directors take these kinds of swings anymore. Watching The Odyssey, seeing the cultural response, and witnessing the massive box office numbers reminded me just how hungry audiences are for this kind of storytelling. More epics made for adults will bring people back to the movies. Nolan proves that time and again, and I think he understands that mission. “If you build it, they will come.”

I have always loved the themes of The Odyssey, and to Nolan’s credit, I think he did a great job translating many of them to the screen. The longing for home and family. The importance of treating others with kindness and compassion. The consequences of our choices and the value of wisdom. Even though Homer’s worldview was not Christian, living centuries before Christ and the Church, these themes are, I suspect, one of the reasons so many conservatives and Christians have responded so enthusiastically to Nolan’s retelling of The Odyssey. Well, at least the ones who are not in the woke camp. I appreciate seeing these themes expressed in Nolan’s film, especially when he could have gone in a drastically different direction. This was the version of the story he wanted to tell, and for that, kudos.

The Odyssey is good for the industry, and it is good for the Oscars. I do not want to get bogged down trying to predict which categories it should or should not get into, but I think this is a movie that deserves plenty of above and below the line nominations. I love when Best Picture nominees are also box office success stories, especially the eventual winner. The Oscars should absolutely consider box office performance, as long as the film also earns it through great filmmaking. That balance helps keep the Oscars relevant while also supporting the industry. If The Odyssey wins Best Picture, I will be happy knowing audiences actually showed up to see it.

The Bad

While I appreciated the universal themes I mentioned above, and I respect that Nolan put on the screen the story he wanted to tell, I feel like he did the women of The Odyssey dirty. They were stripped of the beauty and sexuality that are such an important part of Homer’s text. I suspect Nolan viewed those aspects as misogynistic, but in removing them, he also removed much of what made these women powerful. Their ability to seduce and tempt Odysseus is central to who they are. Odysseus spent years as the lover of Circe and Calypso, living under their spell. Nolan chose not to go in that direction, and I think it left these women feeling hollow and, at times, almost unnecessary. They drift through the story without carrying the weight Homer intended. I do not think it honored the source material, and these characters lost much of their depth and strength because of it.

Outside of Samantha Morton and Matt Damon, I thought the acting was just okay. Morton and Damon were solid, and I enjoyed both performances, but they simply happened to be the best of the bunch. When I saw this cast, I was expecting fireworks. Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, and Zendaya were practically given nothing to do. They deserved much better. Robert Pattinson was laughably cringeworthy. Tom Holland felt horribly miscast. Anne Hathaway was… well, Hathawaying. I just do not know how you assemble this much talent and then underuse, underwrite, and underdeliver with nearly all of them. I was genuinely surprised. Am I the only one?

The Ugly

I cannot get over the writing. The dialogue was so poor that it constantly pulled me out of the story. Tom Holland saying “Mom” and “Dad,” and Robert Pattinson saying “Daddy.” How did that make it into the final cut? I think many of my complaints about the performances and the female characters ultimately come back to the writing. Nolan is a master of spectacle, but I think writing remains his biggest weakness. Very few directors can excel at both writing and directing, and I do not think Nolan is one of them. He struggles to write women. He struggles to write sexuality. And too often, he leans so heavily into delivering a surprise or twist that the characters themselves suffer. I love Nolan as a director, but I think he should stick to only directing.

Naturally, whenever you adapt a work as beloved as The Odyssey, there are going to be changes. That is part of the process, and I expect it. However, Nolan completely ruined the ending. In Homer’s story, Odysseus reclaims his throne and remains the rightful ruler of Ithaca. To me, that is what makes everything he endured worth it. The battles. The suffering. The years away from home. His return is not just about seeing his family again. It is about justice. It is about reclaiming what was stolen from him. Instead, Nolan sends him riding off into the sunset as an outcast. There were plenty of things Nolan left out, but this is the one that bothered me most. Oddly enough, almost nobody seems to be talking about it. It makes me wonder how many people have actually read The Odyssey, which, in my opinion, is a crime. Again, though, I think that comes back to weak writing.

Now, I have a tremendous amount of respect for this film, even if it does not sound like it. Like I said, I love an epic. I love the themes Nolan chose to emphasize. I never felt like watching it was a waste of my time, and I will probably see it again soon because Nolan is always worth watching. I think I ultimately land somewhere in the middle. I like the movie, but I cannot love it because of its glaring flaws. I certainly do not hate it, either. I am confused by the people calling it a masterpiece, though. I chalk that up to a lot of people not really knowing Homer’s text and, perhaps, being Nolan fanboys.

I love seeing people talk about movies and, more importantly, actually go to the theater to watch them. We need more of that. So, to Nolan, I offer a heartfelt thank you and a tip of the hat.

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