From the Trojan Horse to Hades to Ithaca, Nolan’s Odyssey is a titanic journey in Imax, with memorable reconstructions but cold interpretations. The review
The Trojan horse of black omen stranded on the sand, the towering Laestrygonians bursting forth in silver armor and impetuous lethal force, the souls of Hades rising from a pitch sand… TheOdyssey Of Christopher Nolan finally unfolds. At the cinema from 16 July, it is a powerful work with sequences destined to remain indelible. A monumental film, entirely shot with Imax cameras, on 70 mm film, with a titanic production effort, but… beautiful without a soul. Hollywood gives and Hollywood takes away.
Imax immersive, Damon less so
Filmed in six different countries, from Morocco to Italy, passing through Greece, Iceland, the United States and Scotland, Nolan’s thirteenth film fulfills his lifelong dream: to make an entire film using exclusively Imax cameras. We have seen theOdyssey at the Arcadia in Melzo (Milan), one of the best cinemas in Europe, and the experience is truly immersive. The heads of Scylla that burst forth and seize the sailors are a near impetus. Feel the chair vibrate tribal and pressing rhythm that follows the siege of Troy is a virtuosity worth experiencing.
Almost everything calls to grandeur in the’Odyssey: the endless storms over Ulysses and his men, the countless landing places, the Achaean devastation… But it is the essence that moves everything that is lifeless: the interpretations, that high-sounding and talked-about Hollywood cast. It’s so difficult to really connect with the various characters, whoever they are. Cold presences functional to the story but not the heart of the story. Where is empathy? It is as if the powerful and fast gears of the narrative, to be able to compress such a vast poem into 2 hours and 53 minuteswould crush its own protagonists.
We had strong prejudices about the choice of Matt Damon like the witty Odysseus “of multifaceted intelligence”. And they were partly proven wrong: the ex Will Hunting – Rebel genius he doesn’t fall, even if he fails to give his hero that vibrant humanity to side with or hate. At the end, moreover, he seems dominated by the rush to conclude.
Anne Hathaway she plays Penelope but on her there is no trace of that solemn and melancholic dignity that she tries to express. We have to admit: having seen it recently Ithaca – The return by Uberto Pasolini makes us even more cruel. How is it possible to match the charisma and lively but contained drama of Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, our Ulysses and Penelope of the heart?
A great realism
It’s part of the grandeur of Odyssey also the strong realism of each sequencefrom the battles to the sack of Troy to the locations, all real. The island of Ogygia, where Calypso (Charlize Theron) welcomes Ulysses, it is a beach in Morocco that is anything but glossy and dreamy, so close to us. Ithaca, however, was reborn on the Sicilian island of Favignanawith Penelope and Telemachus welcoming unwanted guests, according to the law of Zeus, into St. Catherine’s Castle, located at the top of the rugged hill of Mount St. Catherine.
Nolan also takes us inside the Trojan Horse, black and tapered on the outside, as beautiful as we’ve ever seen it. Inside, however, Ulysses, Menelaus (Jon Bernthal) and the Greek warriors are crowded together and exhausted, in dubious waiting, lying on their own excrement.
Tom Holland he is Telemachus and he is the only one who shows some emotion, even if it is difficult to imagine him just twenty years old – he is 30 – and a naive young man in front of the Suitors. His wife Zendaya embodies a depressed Athena: the grey-eyed war goddess loses all divine aura. And this is where Nolan surprises, positively, with an intuition that fascinates. Guilt is not an ancient Greek concept, but 3,000 years later our view of Odysseus has changed.
It works too Robert Pattinsoninsidious Antinous and Penelope’s Ithacese suitor, even if he is not in his best performances. The intensity is in the action scenes, rather than in the faces of its protagonists.
Circe, have mercy on Nolan
Christopher Nolan follows a non-linear epic narrative, where present and past intertwine, as in bards’ songs. The most beautiful scenes of his Odyssey? Two tower and come back to mind in their brutal tragedy: the doors of Troy opening, the Greeks advancing like a flood that invades, kills and crushes, without distinction, “transforming a battle into a hunt”. As in a bas-relief, here are his shadows: in Hades Ulysses meets the soothsayer Tiresias, with the souls who died in war slowly emerging from the very black sand in a memorable gloomy staging.
What haunts us, however, in memory, is the unhappy depiction of Circe. Nolan, may the daughter of the Sun forgive you. Half titan and half nymph, the goddess descendant of Helios has a human voice and divine charm, but in the British director’s version she has less charm than a swineherd. Played by Samantha Mortonshe seems like a witch more than a sorceress. For those who demand justice for Circe, we recommend the beautiful book of the same name by Madeline Miller.
