Odyssey
Critique • Quotes • Quotes • At the movies
Armand Assante is the ruthless and loving ancient hero in the Odyssey 1997 television miniseries.
Odysseus the (sometimes) hero
The Odyssey (1997): Miniseries, two parts, 176 minutes; director Andrei Konchalovsky; writer Konchalovsky; featuring Armand Assante, Greta Scacchi, Geraldine Chaplin, Irene Pappas, Eric Roberts, Alan Stenson, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Lee
Of the dozen or so adaptations of the Odyssey over the past half century, the 1997 production for television may be the best for balancing faithfulness to Homer's original text with thrilling spectacle and human drama to move a modern audience.
It's not perfect. Its script is workmanlike, giving little idea of the epic's sweeping poetry. Its three hours are not enough time to cover the Odyssey in comprehensive detail. And its scenes can be awkwardly juxtaposed, especially in the early going, as it tries to summarize the back story—the relationship of Odysseus and Penelope, the beginning and end of the Trojan War, and the angering of Poseidon that sets Odysseus off on his ten-year journey.
But as we get into the marvellous adventures of Odysseus and his crew, the film smooths out and follows an engrossing narrative arc as they seek their way home.
It's necessarily episodic, like Homer's literary epic, and the adventure never lets up, facing a new danger, a new escape, a new disaster, whenever they seem to make a little progress. Most of the more famous adventures—with the Cyclops, Circe, Calypso, Scylla and Charybdis, and others—are included. The Sirens and Lotus Eaters are missed though.
Meanwhile the tension back home keeps ratcheting up, as Odysseus's family face their own perils and despair for his return.
Some complain this is too much an action film, but that's sort of what the Odyssey was for its time. Still there is some emotional depth and insight into the ancient mindset as can be fit into the adventure story.
Part of this version's success has to do with the tremendous cast, starting with American actor Armand Assante, known best for his gangster and tough guy roles. He might have seemed at first to be odd casting for the legendarily wily Greek hero. But he's surprisingly good at depicting all sides of Odysseus—cunning and foolish, loving and ruthless.
Trailer for the 1997 miniseries adaptation of the Odyssey.
This Odysseus has been criticized for being over-simplified, a figure softened from Homer's darker character. He's said to be too much the all-American romantic hero with family values. I can see this but it doesn't spoil the film's—and the actor's—accomplishment in making a more or less faithful story out of the ancient Greek classic that a contemporary viewership can relate to.
Greta Scacchi manages well the thankless role of Penelope, given she has little more to do than wait and fret. The role of her son Telemachus, played in his older years by Alan Stenson, is also heavily edited and leaves out most of his own adventures that would make him the worthy successor to Odysseus.
In effective supporting roles are such luminaries as Eric Roberts as a manipulative suitor for Penelope, Irene Pappas as Odysseus's agonizing mother, and Isabella Rossellini as the sporadically helpful goddess Athena. Some of the big names appear too briefly; the always entertaining and often ghastly Christopher Lee has barely more than a cameo as a long-dead, blind prophet who advises Odysseus in his condensed visit to the Underworld.
Overall though, if you want a movie that gives you a broad idea of what Homer's the Odyssey is all about, this exciting television miniseries is the ticket.
— Eric
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