Christopher Nolan’s magnificent The Odyssey has rekindled interest in its source, Homer’s centuries-old epic poem Odyssey. Nolan’s film is a commanding adaptation of the Ithacan king Odysseus’s 20-year-old effort to return home after the Trojan War to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus.
Starring Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway and Tom Holland in the principal roles, The Odyssey explores its hero’s lingering guilt over his culpability for lives lost during and after the war.
Cinematic adaptations of Homer’s seminal work date back to the silent era. The Italian production L’Odissea, from 1911, is among the earliest versions. L’Odissea is also the title of an eight-episode Italian mini-series made in 1968.
For old and new fans of a foundational text that has resonated through the centuries, the TV show is an excellent way to spend several hours in the company of flawed humans, capricious gods and frightening monsters.
L'Odissea is available on YouTube in Italian and a French dub. While both come with English subtitles, the French version includes an important prologue that is missing from the Italian episodes uploaded on YouTube.
The handsomely produced series is faithful to the original text, giving a sense of the breadth and sweep of Homer’s poem that isn’t always possible in Nolan’s film.
Common to both productions are locations and costumes that transport viewers into antiquity. Much before Nolan’s movie, the Italian show explores the lasting impact of a war that has led to unnecessary deaths, damaged relationships and caused immeasurable suffering.
While Homer’s previous poem Iliad examines the decade-long Trojan War, Odyssey recounts the aftermath of the battle. Having won the war through trickery by using the Trojan Horse, Odysseus and his soldiers set sail for Ithaca.
The men are thrown off course. It takes Odysseus another decade to reach his destination. Odysseus battles shapeshifting beings, monsters and various gods along the way.
Back in Ithaca, Penelope and Telemachus are trying to stave off rowdy suitors who are demanding that Penelope remarry in order to restore order in Ithaca. The uncouth men treat Penelope’s palace like a tavern. Odysseus eventually reaches Ithaca, wins a contest and then slaughters every one of the suitors.
Among the themes of the poem is Odysseus’s gradual acceptance of the consequences of his actions. Every one of his adventures before he makes it home is a test of his character.
While Nolan’s film dispenses with divine intervention, the Italian series allows gods and goddesses to shape Odysseus’s journey, but not before warning: “Listen to mortals blaming the gods; they say all their woes come from us while their own madness only worsens their fate.”
Directed by Franco Rossi along with Mario Bava and Piero Schivazappa, L’Odissea commences in Ithaca. Penelope, beautifully played by the iconic Greek actor Irene Papas, is at the end of her tether. Her young son Telemachus (Renaud Verly) is treated with scorn by the suitors, led by Antonius (Constantin Nepo). It’s only the legend of Odysseus, as well as the wrath of gods, which keep the suitors somewhat in check.
The goddess Athena assumes various guises to nudge Telemachus towards setting out to look for his father. Athena also frequently appears before Odysseus (Bekim Fehmiu) to guide him home.
L'Odissea covers all of Odysseus’s experiences, from his time with Calypso to his encounter with the one-eyed monster Polyphemus (Samson Burke). Circe and Cassandra both feature too, the latter reminding Odysseus of his reputation for slyness.
Odysseus remembers the Trojan War with regret. It’s a conflict that I was forced into but I must see to its logical conclusion, he says. Back in Ithaca, nobles berate Odysseus in absentia for dragging their sons into a meaningless war.
Telemachus meets Helen (Scilla Gabel), the Spartan queen whose fling with Troy’s prince Paris sparked the Trojan War. Reunited with her husband Menelaus, Helen is remorseful about the whole affair.
It’s my fault that you never knew your father, Helen tells Telemachus. Even Menelaus is filled with sorrow: “How wrong this war has been! How dreadful its aftermath!”
The TV show balances its philosophical musings about the wages of war with the otherworldly, eerie aspects that makes Odyssey so special. Having declared that humans don’t always own up to their misdeeds, the series cleverly uses Athena as a device to move the plot forward, as well as to explain how Odysseus manages to move about in disguise until he reveals his identity.
Divinity and compromised humanity, exciting sub-plots and grand emotions, period detail and contemporary politics, the show has it all. There’s even a Greek chorus when Odysseus arrives at Ithaca to teach his family’s tormentors a lesson.
The TV show does full justice to the source material’s expansive themes. Arete, Nausicaa, Nestor: every one of the characters is present.
Staged and performed with a gravitas befitting Homer’s poem, L’Odissea is a fine companion piece to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The show fills in the gaps in the narrative while reaching the same conclusion as the film. In victory, we have neither been wise nor just, Nestor says in L’Odissea.
Also read:
‘The Odyssey’ review: An immersive, visually ravishing homeward voyage that’s also a journey within
‘Epic, experiential, real’: What to expect from Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
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