My review of Christopher Nolan's Odyssey

Having seen The Odyssey twice now (I have an AMC A-List membership), I think Emily Stimpson Chapman has said most of the things I would want to say in a review.

The audience responses to this film are all over the map. The Odyssey has become a kind of cultural Rorschach test, dividing those who can offer hospitality to a narrative and those who only host their own emotions.

It’s true: the language was prosaic American English. Some of the characters were shallow. And it’s undeniable that Nolan’s film has gutted the story of the pantheon of divinities.

I cannot imagine that is an accident. This is an adaptation of Homer’s beloved tale for a post-believing American audience. It holds up a mirror to this audience and we ought to be horrified to see ourselves up on the screen with all our vices in 70mm high definition.

Anyone who goes into a film by Christopher Nolan expecting to be comforted and coddled has not given a thought to the filmmaker’s track record. His aim is to disturb and unsettle us. The reviews coming in adequately demonstrate that he has more than accomplished the thing he aimed to do.

The painful truth is that Odysseus in Nolan’s film is more virtuous than 90% of those who hold political office in America today. He is still capable of acknowledging failure, questioning vacuous cover stories, and understanding himself to be a poor beggar. It may not be the anagnorisis we wanted, but it’s the anagnorisis we need.

Nolan’s film asks us to imagine at least one member of the political class taking actual interest in restoring order, doing penance for his sins, and relinquishing power to make room for the next generation. It’s nearly too much to hope, but he suggests it might be possible one day.

In the meantime, we have to suffer ourselves. Our leadership class is populated with fakes and de facto atheists who pretend to be patriots and Christians. The only people who succeed are those who deceive and misrepresent themselves. We have to suffer an era of degenerate Americans: a POTUS who styles himself as a pope and a pope who styles himself as the leader of the free world. What they share in common is an unwillingness to respond to the particular vocation that has been given to them and no one else. Odysseus is a character who finally accepts his vocation. Maybe, one day, a creative minority of Americans will find it within themselves to do the same.

We may live in a post-Christian age, but it is not yet post-human. In this is a sign of hope.

an Odyssey to remember

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Jul 18

I saw Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey yesterday in IMAX (not 70mm). It’s a remarkable achievement.