‘The Odyssey’ Is a Turgid Ode to Inclusivity That Isn’t So Inclusive of Homer

Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy? As has been reported in these pages, the casting of Ms. Nyong’o in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” has raised a fair share of red flags on social media. An actress of Kenyan descent born in Mexico City, Ms. Nyong’o has, in some quarters, been deemed inappropriate to depict the “white armed beauty” whose face,pace the British playwright Christoper Marlowe, launched a thousand ships. Forget for a moment that the white arms mentioned by Homer are less indicative of heritage than privilege. Forget, too, the sundry actors whose gender specificity and poetic street-cred are raising hackles, not to mention the historical inaccuracies and modern argot that pepper the movie. Can we speak instead about that pillar of Hellenic integrity, Matt Damon?Mr. Damon taking on the role of Odysseus is less egregious than John Wayne’s turn as Genghis Khan in Dick Powell’s “The Conqueror” (1956), or Gary Oldman playing a dwarf in Matthew Bright’s “Tiptoes” (2002). Mr. Damon has made an enviable career by trading, not so much on thespian chops, but on affability: He’s a reliable movie star. Friends of Greek heritage aren’t much taken with Mr. Damon portraying Odysseus, but were similar complaints lodged when Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, and a laundry list of Brits were cast as Hellenes of one sort or another?Jimmy Gonzales as Cepheus, Matt Damon as Odysseus, and Himesh Patel as Eurylochus in ‘The Odyssey.’ Universal PicturesArtworks are products of their time and, of necessity and sometimes by diktat, indicative of the circumstances in which they were created. Ideological standards can’t help funnel their way into cultural artifacts, as do the prerequisites of capital. But art, at its most convincing and true, achieves an independence separate from circumstance. It’s worth pondering if Hollywood’s DEI imperatives will, in future years, be rendered moot by historical distance. Or, who knows, maybe the casting of trans actor Eliot Page and glamour gal Anne Hathaway will be looked down upon as the equivalent of Swedish actor Warner Oland taking on the guise of Charlie Chan. To paraphrase the venerable detective from “Charlie Chan In Paris” (1935), a moviegoer can’t see the contents of a nut until its shell is cracked. So it is with movies as saddled with expectation and agita as “The Odyssey.” Say this for Mr. Nolan’s picture: It’s not as flat or disjointed as “Disclosure Day,” the recent offering by his fellow Hollywood kingpin, Steven Spielberg. The man behind the Oscar-engorged “Oppenheimer” (2023) had better source material to work with, along with the weight of 20-some centuries providing gravitas. But that’s not to say “The Odyssey” isn’t flat or disjointed. It is, and to a spectacularly turgid degree. The inclusivity put into effect by casting director John Papsidera is a problem only insofar as the actors and actresses don’t seem to be conversant with Homer’s opus or its role in world culture. In fact, for the short time she is on screen, Ms. Nyong’o brings grounding to the proceedings. Her take on Helen of Troy, less so for Clytemnestra who we only see in passing, is both informed and powered by myth. Robert Pattinson is good as the underhanded Antinous, if only because he’s not afraid to camp things up a bit. Samantha Morton steals the picture as Circe in what is, not coincidentally, the most effective scene in “The Odyssey.” Ms. Morton, Zeus bless her, is all-in on the dreadful witchery she puts into effect.The same can’t be said for Zendaya as Athena. The actress is clearly out of her depth, mistaking a goddess for a petulant brat. Tom Holland is similarly dreadful and off-topic as Telemachus, though, to be fair, he has been saddled with some of the most cloddish anachronisms in the screenplay. Mr. Nolan’s script is rife with leaden turns of phrase, including a handful of hilariously inapt f-bombs. His use of explication and flashback makes a clutter of an already discursive narrative. Kudos have been heaped upon cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, but, truth be told, the movie is gloopy when it’s not non-descript. Many scenes are hard to see.As for Mr. Damon; he does well enough, but he’s never not Matt Damon. Star power is exactly what Mr. Nolan and his comrades in the blockbuster universe are counting on, but don’t fret for Homer: He will survive the vagaries of cultural misprision and arrant sensationalism. Still, “The Odyssey” does leave you wondering if there are some literary landmarks whose contours and complexities are just too much for a mere movie to contain.

‘The Odyssey’ Is a Turgid Ode to Inclusivity That Isn’t So Inclusive of Homer

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