Homer and Nolan as Storytellers

Abstract

Nolan's Odyssey is distinctively his own. While preserving its basic plot, the film differs from Homer’s epic at many points, often reaching beyond its source material to redevelop characters and explore new issues. It is not simply Homer’s Odyssey transferred into another medium, but an artistic creation in its own right by one of modern cinema’s most celebrated filmmakers. Throughout the film Nolan is in dialogue with Homer and his various interpreters from Vergil to Tennyson, though continuously guided by the necessities of the modern medium in which he works and his own artistic priorities.