Thinking back to my freshman year of college, I remember reading Homer’s The Odyssey. I pored over King Odysseus’s epic journey home from the Trojan War to reunite with his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. In this gripping and foundational story, Odysseus has been separated from his homeland of Ithaca for 20 years to fight in the Trojan War, and in his absence, numerous Ithacan suitors have emerged to marry Penelope and claim Odysseus’s throne. Odysseus must return home to reclaim his rule from these threatening men.
Yet, his journey contains many difficulties and delays, and Penelope must decide if she will continue to wait for Odysseus or marry one of the suitors. In ancient works such as The Odyssey, we enter stories composed by authors who lived in vastly different times and cultures from us. We get a glimpse of distinct, even provocative, worldviews in these ancient works. Thus, filmmakers who adapt The Odyssey must find ways to make the story and characters more accessible to modern audiences.
From Poem to Film
Fast forward to July 2026, and I am about to watch Nolan’s big-budget adaptation of this classic tale. He is my favorite filmmaker because he uses practical effects and filming at real locations in his movies. I was excited to see how Nolan would capture this mythical story in his distinct cinematic style. Overall, he did an excellent job in bringing The Odyssey to the big screen. As I watched the movie in the theater, I thought the grand locations and large sets helped to visually capture the epic nature of Homer’s story. I was completely immersed in Odysseus’s tumultuous journey and trials, and I felt that Nolan excellently depicted the growth and maturity of Odysseus on this journey. I left the theater with a renewed love for the original Greek poem.
Yet, if watching Nolan’s adaptation of the classic poem emboldens you to read The Odyssey, you may quickly become troubled at Odysseus’s love affairs with the goddesses Circe and Calypso in the text, just as I was when I first read the book. These affairs seem to diminish Odysseus’s primary reason for returning home: to be united with his wife and child. To be fair, in the poem, Athena suggests that Odysseus was trapped against his will on the island with Calypso (1:57), so Odysseus was not willfully putting off his return home because of his love affair with the sea goddess. But it is telling that Nolan leaves out Odysseus’s affair with Circe in the movie. Additionally, in the film, when Odysseus is on the island with Calypso, he consumes lotus flowers that make him forget his family and journey. When his memory finally returns, Odysseus is devastated to learn he has spent seven years on the island and forgotten about Penelope, so he leaves immediately.
Literary critic Adam Andrews comments on this moral difficulty in the original text. He observes, “One common reply to this problem is to note that ancient Greek concepts of marital fidelity were obviously quite different from modern Christian ones.”[1] Andrews suggests that ancient Greek writers and audiences may not have been troubled by Odysseus’s moral inconsistencies in the story, and that Homer’s depiction of Odysseus fits into the ancient Greek understanding of marital faithfulness. Andrews’s comment also shows us how our views of heroes in stories change over time. But why have cultural views of a hero changed so drastically, and why does this shift matter for us as Christians?
From Ancient to Modern Hero
Perhaps Nolan’s decision to make Odysseus a more faithful and virtuous husband reflects what historian Tom Holland (not to be confused with the Spider-Man actor) demonstrated in his book, Dominion: “To live in a Western country is to live in a society still utterly saturated by Christian concepts and assumptions…Whether it be the conviction that the workings of conscience are the surest determinants of good law…or that polygamy is unacceptable, its trace elements are to be found everywhere in the West.”[2] According to Holland, Christianity still exercises a subtle, if slight, influence on Western morality. This moral influence shapes how we tell stories and view good and bad characters in movies. As you watch the film, you will notice that Nolan’s Odysseus reflects our current culture’s standards for a virtuous man: a committed and loving husband. If Nolan had filmed a more literal adaptation of Odysseus’s character, modern audiences would likely find the character hypocritical and immoral in his motives. This subtle influence of Christian ethics on Nolan’s blockbuster movie shows us that the film industry is not completely deprived of biblical morals.
In her review of Nolan’s film at the Associated Press, Hillel Italie supports this point that the movie “weds the sensibilities of ancient Greece and the modern world.” As an adaptation of an ancient text, the movie blends ancient Greek and modern Western values. This is not to say that culture is becoming more Christian or that Nolan created this film according to a Christian framework, but Christian ethics have implicitly influenced much of Western society and culture, including what it means to be a good person. Nolan’s retelling of Odysseus’s character serves as an example of this moral influence. In the movie, we see a hero more in line with Christian virtues than Ancient Greek virtues. If you plan on seeing the movie, take note of the ways Nolan’s depiction of Odysseus aligns with modern and even Christian moral values.
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