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Perhaps, a Straussian reading of this would be that, Nolan indeed trying to point out this exact thing, of how consumed we become by our own narratives, that we forget to take into account the people on the recieving end of the attrocities.3/5

#Movies #The Odyssey

Any serious depiction of violence, ancient or modern, must show the perspectives of the victims as well as the perpetrators, and the Homeric poems easily clear the bar – but Nolan doesn’t. The Trojans are dehumanised by their masks; we know none of them by name or face. The hands of Odysseus and Telemachus are bloodied only by the most righteous, computer-game modes of killing, and we feel no pity or horror at the deaths of their victims, whether Trojans, giants, suitors or slaves. During the sack of Troy – which he supposedly organised – Odysseus gazes around in bewilderment and horror, as if he has never seen a massacre before.

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Manlrb.co.uk

And wants us to realize this, by tricking us into supporting the same crimes we were appalled by, when we saw the sacking of Troy. And wants us to realize how difficult it is to see through this duality.4/5

#Movies #The Odyssey

The film asks us both to be horrified at war and to celebrate the action-movie sequences in which the reluctant warrior finally gets his hands on his bow and the blood starts flowing. The massacre of the suitors is probably the most enjoyable sequence in the film.

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Manlrb.co.uk

#Movies #The Odyssey5/5

The most troubling ethical problem with Nolan’s Odyssey concerns the decision to film part of the movie in the occupied territory of Western Sahara, thus normalising the ongoing violence against the indigenous Sahrawi people. It is particularly galling that Nolan used this land simply as a visually striking backdrop for a film that centres, aggrandises and redeems the hero of a territorial war on account of his belated and partial acknowledgment of his own guilt.

Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Manlrb.co.uk