Opinion Piece Critiques Nolan's 'The Odyssey,' Casting Odysseus as a 20-Year Halfway Hero
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Opinion Piece Critiques Nolan's 'The Odyssey,' Casting Odysseus as a 20-Year Halfway Hero
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jul 26
Summary
A July 26 opinion essay argues Christopher Nolan's “The Odyssey” misfires not because it modernizes Homer, but because it reshapes Odysseus into a diminished “halfway hero.”
The critique says Homer’s Odysseus remains legible to modern readers—a clever man driven to get home after 10 years at Troy and another 10 years delayed at sea.
In Nolan’s version, the essay argues, that figure becomes a guilt-ridden man who fails as a father, doubts the cause he served and lacks clear self-knowledge.
The piece links that portrayal to Nolan’s recurring themes—heroism, guilt, memory and time—and compares Odysseus to J. Robert Oppenheimer as another powerful man who worsens the world.