Hiya!

Who would’ve thought a movie about a very old story would be box office gold? As of right now, Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey is raking in the cash, with the film earning roughly $260 million worldwide, which is around its budget. So, it’s already breaking even. However, I do believe it’ll still keep bringing in the moolah as I’m pretty sure there are going to be people who would want to re-watch it. That includes myself, by the way, because I really enjoyed it.

I am curious, though, about how many moviegoers who will be more interested to learn more about the original version of the Odyssey. I wonder how many will go read Homer’s original epic poem and see how many changes Christopher Nolan made to the story. Well, as someone who actually has read the original story several times, I can say he did make a lot of alterations to the original tale for one reason or another. So, let me go mention the ones which I found the most notable and give my opinion on how these choices either helped or hindered the story.

By the way, SPOILERS incoming, obviously, for both the movie and Homer’s epic poem.

#1 Christopher Nolan tubocharged Antinous‘ douche-ness

In Homer’s original story, Antinous was already a huge douche. Like in the movie, he was one of Penelope‘s numerous suitors while Odysseus was away. He also was the one who developed the plan to assassinate Telemachus and he also beat Odysseus while he was disguised as a beggar. All of that should have been enough but Christopher Nolan wasn’t satisfied with how douche-y he was. He just had to really lay it on thick in his version!

One big change is his backstory regarding his participation or, rather, his non-participation in the Trojan War. He claims he volunteered but Odysseus stopped him and requested he stay behind and take care of Penelope and Telemachus in his stead. In reality, he was supposed to be drafted in the war but he paid Sinon, a young shepherd boy to take his place. On a side note, Sinon actually doesn’t appear in Homer’s story of the Trojan War, The Iliad. Christopher Nolan took him from another story about the Trojan War.

Anyway, back to Antinous. Another big change Christopher Nolan made was he made Antinous have the affair with Penelope’s slave girl. In the original story, the slave girl was in love with another of Penelope’s suitors. Finally, in Homer’s original story, Antinous is actually the first one to die at the hands of Odysseus.

I did like these changes because it made me really hate Antinous. On the other hand, Robert Pattinson‘s performance as this ultra douche made me hate to love him. He was just so insufferable but such a joy to watch.

#2 “Those From the Sea” comes from history books, not The Odyssey

One of the biggest plot points Christopher Nolan added was an existential threat the Greek kingdom was preparing for. These were the people they call “Those From the Sea.” We actually never see them in the film and… we don’t see them in Homer’s original story either! However, there is some basis to this marauding band of seafarers.

From what I gathered, the concept of “Those From the Sea” is based on a group called The Sea Peoples. Not much is known about them and, in fact, historians aren’t even sure where they came from as there isn’t much written about them. The only known records are from Egypt and the battles they had with these so-called Sea Peoples. What they do know is they attacked from the sea (obviously) and they were generally a loose band of tribes from different nations. Meaning they probably didn’t have a “country” of their own. It has been said some of them are Greek, though.

Christopher Nolan added the Sea Peoples to the story for no reason, though. Near the end of the film, Odysseus actually hints that the Sea Peoples are not just people who have totally given up on Zeus’ Law. Rather, Odysseus thinks the Sea People might be the Greeks who participated in the Trojan War as they abused the concept by using the Trojan Horse, a supposed gift to the Trojans, to invade and decimate the city. That would make him, Odysseus, one of the Sea People as well!

#3 Odysseus’ Missing Side Quest

The Odyssey is a pretty long movie, running just shy under 3 hours. Even with that much time, Christopher Nolan had to make some creative edits to Homer’s original epic poem. He kept most of the “exciting” parts of the story, like the part with the Cyclops, but removed some of the more “fantastical’ portions, like Odysseus and his crew met Aeolus, the keeper of the winds. He also combined a couple of moments, like how Calypso was the one who fed Odysseus the lotus flower to help him forget instead of the “lotus eaters.”

There was one major storyline which was totally excised from the movie, though. This is Odysseus travelling to the land of Phaeacia and where he gets assistance from the princess of the land, Nausicaa. This is kind of a major event as, throughout his travels described in the original story, Odysseus never was given any help willingly or immediately. It’s actually thanks to Nausicaa that Odysseus makes it back to his country and not pure chance like in the movie.

I am personally happy they cut out this part from the original epic poem. While I understand why Homer has it here as it shows Odysseus’ being humble and crafty when talking to people despite being a king. This is also important as this part of the story once again emphasizes the idea of Zeus’ Law of being kind to strangers. However, after all of the “exciting” adventures he’s been on, this was just boring.

#4 Odysseus’ “side pieces”

So, if you’ve seen the movie, you know the general crux of The Odyssey is Odysseus trying to return home to Penelope, his wife and true love. While that may be true in the original story as well, it’s not like he was all that faithful to her! So much so that Telemachus might want to reach out to his half-siblings!

First off, Christopher Nolan made some really major creative adjustments with Circe part of the story. Like in the movie, Circe uses her magic to turn Odysseus’ crew into pigs. However, in the original version, Odysseus’ right-hand man doesn’t get turned into a pig and flees to tell him what happened. Odysseus then uses a magical plant given to him by the gods to make him immune to Circe’s magic. He then forces her to change his crew back and, amazed by his bravery, Circe falls in love with Odysseus. After this, Odysseus and his crew then stay with Circe for a full year and, during this time, Penelope’s “loyal” husband does a little sumthing-sumthing with Circe, leading her to give birth to several children before Odysseus leaves Circe and the kids he had with her to return back to Penelope.

Then we also have Calypso. Like in the movie, Odysseus stays with her for 7 whole years. However, the means of how Calypso does this is very different. As I mentioned earlier, Calypso is the one who feeds Odysseus the lotus flower in order to send him into a state of blissful forgetfulness. Eventually, she willingly allows Odysseus to leave as she knows she can’t compete with his love for Penelope.

That’s not the case in the original story. In Homer’s epic poem, Odysseus is more like a captive of Calypso as she had, of course, fallen deeply in love with the manly man that is Odysseus. However, she was then ordered to free him by the gods and, although she was angered by this, she relented as she knew she could not fight the might of the gods. Despite being essentially held against his will, that didn’t stop Odysseus from doing the nasty with Calypso as, by some accounts, she gave birth to several children while Odysseus was with her.

I was actually wondering how Christopher Nolan was going to handle the entire infidelity angle and I totally forgot he could have just make Odysseus not do it. Honestly, I’m happy with what they did with Circe by having him leave promptly and not stay with her for an entire year and someone have several children with her within that year. However, I was kind of disappointed with Calypso as, in my opinion, I wanted to see the despair of him wanting to leave but was just unable to.

#5 The ending

The biggest change Christopher Nolan did with Homer’s original story was the ending. Much like in the original story, The Odyssey has Odysseus get home, completes Penelope’s task of stringing his bow, slay all of the suitors single handedly and reunites with Penelope and Telemachus. However, in the film, Odysseus goes into voluntary exile with Penelope as he did kill a lot of people with political power. Telemachus becomes king and Odysseus and Penelope sail away, chasing the sunset like they wanted to before the Trojan War ended.

The original story has a much stupider ending.

After Odysseus strings the bow and takes out all of the suitors, Penelope still isn’t convinced the man who did all of that is really his husband. So, he tests him by saying they’ll first move the bed out of the master’s bedroom so he can sleep there. Odysseus then says the bed cannot be moved because, get this, the bed part of a tree that it still rooted in the ground. Penelope realizes only the real Odysseus would know this and is now convinced the man is indeed her long lost husband who has had several kids with other women while he was missing. I don’t think Odysseus told Penelope about that last part, though.

I’m a little torn with how the ending of the movie went. On one hand, I really hated the dumb ending of the original story so anything would have been an improvement. On the other hand, it doesn’t really make sense why Odysseus would be exiled since, as far as I understood, he had every right to do what he did as the suitors were breaking Zeus’ Law! Sure, you can say they all had political power. That wouldn’t have mattered because Odysseus is the king! He is the law!

BONUS: No gods?

It was definitely a choice for Christopher Nolan to not include any of the gods in The Odyssey. Even the appearance of Athena can be debated as this just might be a figment of Odysseus’s guilty conscience. My issue with the choice of there being no gods is the fact there is magic in this world! In the film, we see a giant cyclops, giant men in armor who can move trees at will, women who can rub people like clay to turn them into animals and a land where the dead languish.

Despite all of that, Christopher Nolan draws the lines at there being gods. That would be too crazy, right?

Byee!

What other changes did you notice Christopher Nolan made to the story of The Odyssey? Let me know in the comments section below!