00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most notable differences between Christopher
00:12Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey and Homer's epic poem, primarily the version Emily Wilson
00:18translated. Spoilers on both fronts. The Bag of Winds
00:24Nolan's film includes many of the mythical elements from Homer's story,
00:28although the Bag of Winds is notably omitted. In the source material, Aeolus, ruler of the winds,
00:35gifts the bag to Odysseus. Just as Odysseus and his crew are about to reach home,
00:40his men unwisely open the bag, assuming that there's treasure inside.
00:49In the ultimate oh-come-on moment, their ship is sent all the way back to the island of Aeolia.
00:58On the far side of the world.
01:00While Odysseus begs him for further help, Aeolus refuses, seeing his setback as a bad omen from
01:07the gods. Nolan leaves out this chapter, which likely would have slowed the pacing in a nearly
01:12three-hour film. Still, funny that the Bag of Winds appears in the SpongeBob movie, but not here.
01:36Antinous isn't the first to die. Of the 108 suitors looking to take Odysseus' place as Penelope's
01:42husband, Antinous may be the most pompous and conniving. Robert Pattinson does an exceptional
01:48job conveying this, making it all the more satisfying when Antinous gets his comeuppance.
01:54This is a household waiting for a master.
01:57While Antinous ultimately meets the same grim fate, his demise plays out differently in the poem.
02:03Antinous takes an arrow to the neck, being the first of the suitors to fall as Odysseus reclaims
02:09his home. In the movie, Odysseus' killing spree does commence with a suitor getting shot through
02:29the throat, but it isn't Antinous. His death is saved for later in the battle, which makes narrative
02:35sense. Since Antinous is the suitor we've come to loathe the most, his downfall should be savored.
02:46The Cyclops Encounter
02:48Like in the poem, Odysseus and his men become trapped in a cave with a cyclops.
02:53While this part of the film is mostly faithful, Nolan makes a few changes. Although the cyclops
02:59can speak, it's in a language that the crew can't understand.
03:05As such, the cyclops doesn't ask Odysseus his name. The poem sees Odysseus trick the
03:11cyclops, who drunkenly dozes off. Odysseus' men seize the opportunity to blind the cyclops
03:17with a stake, escaping.
03:19My eyes! What have you done to me?
03:22In the film, Odysseus blinds the cyclops with his bow and arrow while making a break for it.
03:28One crew member mentions that the cyclops is the son of Poseidon, but Nolan doesn't spell
03:32out whether this is truly Polythemus.
03:39Calypso
03:41Charlize Theron plays Calypso, the nymph who seeks to trap Odysseus on the island of
03:46Ogygia with her for eternity.
03:50While Calypso's goal is essentially the same, this section of the film combines different
03:55elements from the poem. The source material sees Calypso manipulate Odysseus with her singing and
04:01weaving. In Nolan's adaptation, Calypso feeds Odysseus lotuses, causing him to forget about his past.
04:08Tell me what you remember.
04:10The poem included an episode in which Odysseus' men arrive at the island of Lotus Eaters,
04:15getting sidetracked as their memories are blurred.
04:18Circe filled our ears with music, and our minds with the magical lotus blossom.
04:26Her potions weakening our bodies, and clouding our thoughts.
04:31Nolan repurposes that part of the poem here.
04:34The poem also has Hermes intervene on Zeus' orders, forcing Calypso to free Odysseus.
04:40The film removes Hermes, with Calypso instead making the conscious decision to let Odysseus go.
04:47Circe
04:48Samantha Morton is another standout as Circe, the witch who shares a meal with Odysseus' men,
04:54only to turn them into pigs.
04:56Get him!
04:57Get him!
04:58Go!
04:58Get the pigs!
04:59Get the pigs!
05:01Eurylochus doesn't fall for Circe's trick in the poem, but in the film, Odysseus is the only one who
05:07doesn't get the hog treatment.
05:08Again, the poem sees Hermes come to the rescue, providing Odysseus with moly as protection,
05:14and telling him how to subdue Circe.
05:19In Nolan's version, Odysseus pieces together that Circe has turned his men into swine,
05:25forcing her to change them back right then and there.
05:27This section of the film otherwise stays close to the source material, although Nolan excludes the
05:33part where Odysseus remains on the island for another year and becomes Circe's lover.
05:38You have given me much, Circe, but no bed and no flesh could ever make me forget Penelope.
05:45The Family Reunion
05:47The poem and film culminate in Odysseus at long last reuniting with his wife Penelope.
05:52Ithicus King is coming back.
05:54No, he's not.
05:55Both versions also have Odysseus present himself as a beggar upon returning home,
05:59before revealing his true identity. In the movie, though, it's implied that Penelope
06:06begins to suspect that the beggar is her husband as he talks about the regrettable actions he committed
06:11at Troy. Penelope confirms this when she presents her suitors with a test, which only Odysseus can
06:19pass with his bow. While that is from the poem, Penelope needed further proof in the original story.
06:25She gave Odysseus one more test, asking him to move their bed. Odysseus tells Penelope that
06:32their bed can't be moved, which finally convinces her. Where's Laertes?
06:37For all the characters that Nolan's adaptation juggles, quite a few figures are sent adrift.
06:55For example, Laertes, Odysseus' elderly father, is the one Penelope is taking her time weaving a
07:01shroud for. Toward the poem's conclusion, Odysseus reunites with his dad, together standing up against
07:07the families of the suitors who were slain. Laertes is basically a no-show in Nolan's version,
07:13and he isn't Odysseus' only missing parent. In Homer's account, Odysseus is nearly reunited with
07:20his mother, Anticlia, until the bag of winds throws them off course. Odysseus sees his mother again
07:37when he passes through the underworld. Grief took Anticlia's life, but she's given a chance to catch
07:43Odysseus up on what he missed. Not in Nolan's movie, however. A more complex Odysseus. Be it
07:51Dom Cobb in Inception, or Joseph Cooper in Interstellar, men who become lost and separated
07:56from their families are common in Nolan's filmography. So, naturally, Odysseus is written
08:09with the same complexities as Nolan's other protagonists. In the original tale, the gods
08:15primarily stand in the way of Odysseus returning home. In Nolan's interpretation, Odysseus gets in
08:22his own way. As much as he yearns to see his family again, Odysseus also fears how his experiences have
08:36changed him. Having committed atrocities, he may no longer be the man that Penelope fell in love with.
08:42Likewise, Penelope is written with more nuance, not only exploring her longing for Odysseus' return,
08:49but also her frustration at receiving little respect despite being queen.
08:57Are the gods real? Hermes is just one of the numerous Greek gods from Homer's poem who aren't
09:03in Nolan's picture. While Zeus and Poseidon are mentioned, Zendaya's Athena is the only one who
09:09appears on screen. Even then, Athena only comes to Odysseus as he grows isolated and delirious,
09:17implying that she might be a figment of his imagination. This is further suggested when Odysseus
09:23recounts the innocent lives lost at Troy, one of whom was a young woman, also played by Zendaya. Maybe this
09:30is just the form Athena decided to take while presenting herself to Odysseus, but it seems more
09:36likely that she's a manifestation of our hero's guilt.
09:56In any case, there's more ambiguity about the gods, putting Odysseus in charge of his destiny.
10:11The Ending
10:12Speaking of Athena, she intervenes in the poem's final act, stopping the families of the dead suitors
10:19from taking revenge. Since Athena may or may not be real in the film, though, matters aren't quite
10:24as easily resolved. Odysseus still gets his happy ending with his beloved Penelope, but he doesn't
10:30reclaim his place on the throne, rather he goes into exile with Penelope, beginning another journey
10:38on the sea. Meanwhile, their son Telemachus is made king. Nolan also overlooks the events of the
10:47Telegony, a mostly lost epilogue of sorts where Telegonus, the son that Odysseus had with Cersei,
10:53kills his father. Telegonus' half-brother then becomes his stepfather,
10:58as Telemachus marries Cersei. Have fun tackling that in the sequel, Nolan.
11:08What did you think of these changes? Are there any we missed? Let us know in the comments.
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