The Odyssey
Watching Chris Nolan's 'The Odyssey' brought up many questions - as Nolan films tend to do. After watching the movie I brushed up on my Greek mythology and whilst initially I did so only to understand the world that Nolan had recreated, I could not help but reflect on the lessons I might take from it. 1. Intelligence is powerful - but humility keeps it from becoming self-defeating. Odysseus survives because he is clever. He is not the strongest Greek king nor the most fearsome warrior—that reputation belongs more to heroes such as Achilles, while Agamemnon is the supreme commander of the Greek alliance. Instead, Odysseus' greatest strength is his intellect. He conceives the plan of the wooden horse that allows the Greeks to infiltrate Troy. He outwits the Cyclops—whether by calling himself "Nobody" in Homer's poem or, as emphasised in the film, by blinding the creature and escaping beneath the sheep. Yet having escaped, he cannot resist turning back to r...