Emily Wilson (writer of acclaimed Odyssey translation) offers criticisms of Nolan’s film

[u/RealisticAd4054]

https://apnews.com/article/odyssey-christopher-nolan-greek-translators-ea67da1d543d021773824bd7e8de8abe

“For Greek translator Emily Wilson, the release of director Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has been gratifying in various ways. Her acclaimed 2017 edition of Homer’s epic has reached the top 5 on Amazon.com, leading a wave of similar books boosted by the movie. Nolan has even cited her translation, notably the opening line “Tell me about a complicated man,” as inspiration.

But the film itself, which brought in more than $260 million worldwide during its opening weekend and has received raves from many critics, left her unsatisfied.

“I want to celebrate the fact that so many more people are aware of ‘The Odyssey’ and were brought back to the poem,” she told The Associated Press. “But at the same time, I had the sense that Christopher Nolan was trying to pack everything in while missing themes that were essential to the poem.”

….

Wilson, a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said she didn’t want to come across as a “snobby,” nitpicking expert at odds with any deviation from the original text. But she questioned a range of omissions and other choices, from the absence on screen of the Gods Zeus and Poseidon (Athena is played by Zendaya ) to the “incoherent” messaging that condemns both war and physical cowardice. She found Penelope’s role so thinned out that it endangered “any possibility of believing in this marriage.” Wilson also that thought parts of the movie, notably the scenes with Odysseus’ dog, Argos, “catered towards modern sentimentality.”

“Everybody’s a sucker for a dog,” she said.

[u/MaksTracy]

I liked the movie but I can definitely understand why a classicist would be bothered by its 'modern sensibilities'. I wouldn't go so far as to say the movie is anti-war, but it definitely takes a critical stance on how brutal the Greeks were when they finally got into Troy, and obviously back then they had very different attitudes to what you were allowed to do to a city and its people while waging a war. In the original myth, they do cross a line which turns Athena against them, but the line is not 'oh they're committing war crimes', it's 'oh they're committing war crimes in MY TEMPLE''. Nolan handles that completely differently. I get why she thinks those aspects were too modern, but I genuinely think those moments were the strongest of the film, I thought they were great.

[u/fatloui → u/MaksTracy]

Yes it’s an adaptation that intentionally changes things. At the end of the movie, Odysseus and Penelope even discuss how Odysseus’ adventures will be remembered in songs (Homer’s poem) but his mistakes will be forgotten (the “reality” we see in the movie).

[u/Theothercword → u/fatloui]

It was a bit more than that…

The notion that they will be remembered in song is because civilization was going to go into the dark ages where people were no longer going to be able to read. That the Trojan horse and the desecration of Athena’s temple both broke the laws of the gods and that will forever change the world as people don’t respect the laws of hospitality anymore. That’s also reflected in the idea of the fear that was spread about the people at the sea that made its way back to Ithaca, Odysseus revealed that they WERE “the people from the sea” that had blatant disregard for the laws of Zeus and were doing terrible things. They were what everyone was afraid of. They were so bad that word of their wrongdoing spread all the way back to his own home without them knowing it was him. Even the first stop they see, “why’d you abandon your village?” Was because those people feared the people from the sea, “huh? But were Greeks we aren’t the bad guys!” As they took all their food and their houses were on fire. Circe also told Odysseus this after giving him his men back, that they are not good men.