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2/3

For the first hour the movie’s portrayal of Odysseus was just weird. He’s supposed to be this Great and Wise man, yet keeps making wrong and even stupid decisions that eventually lose him the trust and loyalty of his crew (we’re not talking one lone, but disastrous act of Hubris here). And no, it’s not that the movie sets out to “expose” Odysseus as a fraud – it ultimately does validate him as a Hero! The movie’s early portrayal of Odysseus actually brought to mind Ridley Scott’s unhinged and incoherent depiction of Napoleon, though Damon never outright disgraces himself the way Joaquin Phoenix repeatedly did as Napoleon. Even so, as written during the early stages of his voyage, Odysseus comes across not as complex, but schizophrenic – his behavior and actions simply don’t match not just the man we’re told he is, but the man he’s at various other points shown to be.

However, for me the movie does actually begin redeeming Odysseus (and itself) when it gets to the part with Circe: not only does it have Odysseus outsmart the sorceress and save his men, but it gets across just how much he cares for the wellbeing of the crew, despite their earlier pseudo-mutiny. From there on the qualities of the original story start decisively overpowering Nolan’s bad and subversive adaptation choices, while some of his trademark storytelling quirk actually begin paying dividends: most obviously, having Odysseus gradually remember his past as Calypso becomes willing to let him go very much justifies a non-sequential narrative structure, gradually revealing to us just why it has taken him so long to return home from Troy. Moreover, all the time spent in Ithaca with Telemachus and Penelope makes the eventual payoff that much sweeter. As for Odysseus himself, while Matt Damon could never pull off the Trickster King Odysseus, he finally finds his footing portraying a weary war veteran who eventually learns to forgive himself and reclaim his birthright.

And it really is this final stretch of the movie that actually salvages it in my eyes – and not just as entertainment either! I think it’s time for me to give out my Based Morality Score now: -3/+2. The first half should come as no surprise, but the second half will no doubt raise eyebrows – and yet I firmly believe it is justified.

I’ve already gone over most of the major cases of Cultural Marxism and subversive messaging, so now it’s time to look at the other side of the coin: here’s a movie whose single most defining theme is Hospitality Abused, and one whose climax involves the righteous slaughter of Invaders who greedily tried to lay claim to that which did not belong to them. This is also one aspect of the movie which the hostile anti-Woke critics have straight up misrepresented.

Prior to watching the movie, I had heard much talk about how much it pushed the idea of “Zeus' Law”, the obligation that you show strangers hospitality because you never know, one of those strangers might actually be a god in disguise. Anti-Woke Jewtubers made this out to be Nolan’s attempt to brainwash White people into opening up the borders to foreigners, but nothing in the movie actually justifies this reading – quite the contrary. Again, the big theme here is hospitality being ABUSED, kindness and virtue being exploited to the point where it becomes the ruin of moral people. This point is made that much more explicit when Odysseus’ Trojan Horse ploy is explicitly cited as a violation of Zeus' Law; the Trojans honored what was presented as a gift to the gods, and they all died because of it. You might not like an Odysseus who deeply regrets the Trojan Horse, but as part of a cautionary tale about the perils of opening your gates because conventional morality dictates it, I’m more than willing to let it slide.

As a rightwinger who has long been amazed by the stunning lack of gratitude shown by nonwhite immigrants to the Western countries who took them in, the behavior of the suitors in Nolan’s Odyssey served as a striking representation of a very specific kind of Evil, one that very rarely is acknowledged in mainstream circles. Despite how wimpy as he was made out to be, it was impossible to not relate to Telemachus as a young White man seeing his home and his birthright stolen from him by hostile Invaders who eventually target him for destruction, despite having been shown nothing but generosity. These are “people” whose greed is limitless, who have a complete and perfect understanding of their Rights, yet who get offended and aggressive the moment Obligations are brought up.

Again, I don’t see how any alternate reading is possible here. And no, Nolan doesn’t chicken out when it comes to finally dealing with suitors: they get massacred during the climax of the movie, and it is absolutely glorious. Yes, some of them are ultimately spared; but only those who surrender, expose their necks and submit themselves to Odysseus’s judgment. Lots and lots of suitors are killed – and the fact that they get the chance to fight back in no way diminishes Odysseus, in fact, him being forced overcome steeper odds only makes his eventual triumph more satisfying.

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