Odysseus - Part OneGenre: Adventure/Epic
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Andrew Doster
Based on The Odyssey by Homer
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Jessica Chastain, Tom Holland, Rachel Weisz, Ed Skrein, Richard Madden, Olivia DeJonge, Gemma Chan, Thomas Jane, Carice van Houten, Ron Perlman, Robbie Coltrane, Alice Pagani, Meg Foster
Plot: The film opens on the island of Ogygia, an island with a wonderful appearance. The camera follows a cave by the sea that had various ramifications leading to room-like locations. Eventually the cave opened onto natural gardens, a sacred wood with large lush trees and springs flowing through the grass. There is a woman, a nymph named Calypso (Gemma Chan) who was happily spending time spinning and weaving together with other girls, also nymphs her slaves, who sang while they worked. In that place, however, there was a scruffy-looking man with his hands over his face as he was crying.
Athena (Rachel Weisz) descends from Olympus to go to Ithaca after convincing her father Zeus and Poseidon to grant Odysseus a pardon to make him return home to his family. Athena, happy that Odysseus is about to return home, comes to Ithaca to make sure that Odysseus' return is pleasant. Athena uses her powers to deceive the psyche of human beings by posing as a traveler from the West. She is initially greeted with respect by the 20-year-old Prince Telemachus (Tom Holland) but soon discovers that the palace is besieged by numerous arrogant nobles of the region, the suitors, who are anxiously waiting for Queen Penelope (Jessica Chastain) to decide to take a new husband among them. They are ransacking the cellar and the pantry of the building without restraint. Meanwhile, Penelope tries to buy time by declaring to the suitors that she has to weave a cloth for her father-in-law but with this pretext she undoes it every night to start it again the next morning. A young servant, Melanto (Alice Pagani) sees this fact and in the morning goes to report it to the chiefs of the suitors Antinous (Ed Skrein) and Eurimachus (Richard Madden) with the hope of conquering the latter, because she is in love with him without being reciprocated.
Telemachus, at the suggestion of Athena, calls a city assembly to be able to know who is on his side in order to drive out the suitors and who is willing to follow him on the mainland to ask for information about Odysseus from King Nestor, the oldest commander who participated in the Trojan War. Some suitors also arrive at the assembly who claim to be in the right given the long absence of the king and the fact that Penelope is taking too long to weave the web. The Itacese people are silent and dare not oppose these responses. Shortly thereafter, Athena causes Telemachus to find a boat and sailors with which to get to Pylos from Nestor. Before leaving, Telemachus asks the nurse Euricleya (Meg Foster) not to say anything to Penelope. During the night, Melanto makes the suitors sneak inside the palace to catch Penelope in the act. Discovered, Penelope is forced to finish the shroud with no more excuses. During the event, Argo, the very old family dog who was also struggling to walk, jumped and pounced on Antinous to defend Penelope and bites his arm but then is hit with a kick and the animal remains on the ground. When the suitors leave, Penelope sits next to the animal stroking it gently. The next day, the suitors notice Telemachus' absence and discover, threatening a boat salesman, that he has really left to look for news about his father. Concerned that the search for him will be successful, Antinous, chief of the suitors suggests that they ambush Telemachus when he returns. The wine bearer, hearing the suitors, runs to warn Penelope who, after a moment of anger towards Euryclea for not having said anything about her, then she forgives her, and they pray together for the salvation of her son. Arriving in Pylos in the midst of a sacrificial ceremony to Poseidon, Telemachus joins the king after the ceremony. Here he learns that there were those like Odysseus who wanted to punish the allies of the Trojans and those like Menelaus who wanted to return home; after several discussions, the fleet separated and is advised to go to Sparta, from Menelaus. Meanwhile, that same night, Penelope receives a visit from Athena in a dream, under the guise of her sister, who assures her that her gods are watching over her son and also over her Odysseus. Finally the figure of Odysseus (Michael Fassbender) is presented in the night: a lonely man at the head of a miserable raft at the mercy of the waves.
Odysseus is shipwrecked by luck on the island and after finding a refuge he passes out. The island where Odysseus landed is Scheria, ruled by the Phaeacians. The young princess Nausicaa (Olivia DeJonge) is sleeping blissfully in her bed until she receives a visit from Athena in the guise of a distant friend and enters the girl's dreams, telling her that she should prepare for her now next marriage and to go with the maids to the river mouth to do laundry the next morning and always help others. The next day Nausicaa wakes up early and goes to the mouth and after doing the laundry she starts playing and joking with the maids until she sees in the bushes a dirty man, torn and full of salt and leaves with which he had built a shelter and a bed. All the girls run away except Nausicaa who is staring at the desperate man in amazement. Odysseus also remains somewhat captivated by the girl's beauty and compares her to her goddess, then begging her to take him with her to the palace to clean himself of the debris of the waters. Nausicaa has him washed and dressed by the maids who initially ran away but she kindly asks him that he, out of discretion, does not follow her to the palace, or the young people will believe that she has chosen him as her husband.
Accepting the girl's wishes, Odysseus goes alone to the city, while an internal voice (Athena) suggests him how to behave in front of the rulers: Alcinous (Thomas Jane) and Arete (Carice van Houten). The nobles and monarchs of the palace, suspicious of all foreigners who come to their land, fill him with questions but Odysseus remains vague in his answers and is good at misleading his answers. Finally, the two sovereigns apologize for their brusque and gruff interrogation, after they recognize him as a good man with nothing to hide. In reality, Odysseus pretended to be a poor merchant in search of protection in order not to cause a stir. Alcinoo recounts that long before his people, ruled by his grandfather, resided in the Land of the Cyclops, monstrous and violent beings who continually disturbed their lives; so they decided to move with the help of the gods to a new island, paying them the price of being unknown to any traveler, except Odysseus. Housed in the palace, Odysseus has the opportunity to know that the Phaeacians are peaceful and that they know how to build very resistant boats but that they have stopped building them worried about a prophecy of Poseidon. Meanwhile, Odysseus spends a lot of time with Nausicaa, telling her that until a few weeks ago he had remained a prisoner of Ogygia for seven years, an islet where the beautiful nymph Calypso is exiled, to which Odysseus mentally resisted, until on the orders of the gods , she did not allow him to go away on the raft. While Odysseus talks to Nausicaa there are flashbacks of Odysseus and Calypso and some moments of daily life until Calypso was forced by the Gods to let Odysseus go. Nausicaa surprised by this revelation she also nods if she doesn't seem much to believe in Odysseus' words. A few days later, Odysseus is invited to see the games that will decree a spouse for Nausicaa. At the end of the games the champion, therefore, asks the guest to participate in the sword competitions, but Odysseus, in order not to be recognized, refuses, at least until some athletes question his strength by mocking him by making Odysseus angry who accepts the invitation to fight with them. The man manages to beat all the participants but in the end he also risks killing one. Everyone is amazed by the skill shown with the sword. Displeased, Odysseus asks Alcinous for forgiveness by kneeling before him and Arete while Nausicaa asks his father for clemency for him. The king silences his daughter and pretends to know the truth about him instead of hearing his apologies.
Odysseus does not answer and thanks to Nausicaa the king still gives him time to tell the truth otherwise he would have been severely punished. The blind cantor of the palace begins to tell everyone the story of the last thing he saw before losing his sight: the fall of Troy and its gruesome deeds. At the memory of these atrocities, Odysseus begins to sob softly and cry shaken by violent shivers realizing this, the cantor, although blind, recognizes him to the amazement of all the diners. Meanwhile, Telemachus arrives in Sparta where he has other clues about the journey his father undertook many years before.
Now discovered, Odysseus reveals himself to the Phaeacians and begins to tell the misadventures that cost him his return to his homeland, the fleet and his companions and friends despite Arete interrupting him during the story to get information. He tells of having departed from Troy with 12 ships and having lost 11 in the land of the Lestrigoni, giants who sink the ships that entered the port from above; only the ship of Odysseus is saved, which for prudence had kept it out of the port. With the only surviving ship, Odysseus lands on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, inhabited by the strange people of the Lotophages, or eaters of an aphrodisiac flower called Lotus. Three companions are sent on an advance, but after several hours they never return. Worried, Odysseus goes to look for them and arrives in an immense garden with poor houses. All the inhabitants smile and rave about laughing, and among these there are also the three friends of Odysseus. They have completely lost their memory because they ate the dust obtained from the shredding of the flowers of that field, the Lotus, and now they do not want to leave the island. Even when Odysseus tries to remind them of their wives, children and their beloved lands, their inebriated companions do not express the slightest consideration and continue to devour the lotus with a laugh. At that point Odysseus was reluctantly forced to abandon them there. Odysseus resumed his journey and decided to land on another island to look for food that was now starting to run out. Odysseus and twelve of his companions go to get supplies and so they go hunting until, following huge human footsteps, they discover a huge and rough cave. Intrigued, the sailors enter and discover a huge deposit of cheese, milk and ricotta, and utensils belonging to a giant: the bowls that contain the food are enormous. Leaning against the wall is a gigantic ax and at the back of the room is a large bed. Odysseus believes he can establish a dialogue with the inhabitant whose skills he appreciates in tying knots and producing good ricotta and convinces his companions. In any case, there is no more time to escape because the animals of the flock arrive in the cave.
The cave is inhabited by a monstrous giant with animalistic habits named Polyphemus (Ron Perlman). He is a hideous cyclops, full of hair and like a beast with a single eye in the middle of his forehead. The companions of Odysseus are terrified as soon as they see him in front of him that blocks the entrance to the cave with a huge boulder and asks them in a mournful and booming voice to introduce himself. Odysseus, trying to protect his friends, asks Polyphemus to be able to host them, since they need food, and to respect the laws of the powerful and vengeful god Zeus. Polyphemus bursts into a thunderous and terrifying laugh, declaring that he is the son of Poseidon and therefore proclaims himself omnipotent and that he does not have to obey anyone, not even the other gods. The companions run away terrified, but Polyphemus takes one and crushes it in his hand; then he grabs another who had almost fainted from the shock and smashes him violently against a stone. At that point he eats them both while laughing. Odysseus is filled with anger and plans to kill him immediately after he goes to bed, but is held back by his friends. In fact, if Odysseus had pierced the Cyclops in the heart, then no one would have had the strength to remove the gigantic boulder from the entrance, and so the hero is forced to wait for the end of the night.
The next day, closed in the cave while the Cyclops goes to graze the flock, Odysseus gets an idea and orders his companions to take a large olive branch and sharpen it. Subsequently Odysseus draws the companions who should have distracted the Cyclops, while he hid the trunk. Unfortunately the taken are not fast enough and Polyphemus devours them too. All the prisoners are about to lose hope, were it not for the astute Odysseus, who decides to make the Cyclops drink the wine he had brought with him from the boats as a gift for the inhabitants of that land, a very special and very concentrated wine which to be drunk normally should be stretched with as many as 20 measures of water. Having filled a large bowl, Odysseus barely grabs it with both arms and hands it to Polyphemus, who, although suspicious of the new drink, tastes it, immediately going mad. Odysseus, wanting to get him drunk, brings him another full bowl which Polyphemus empties. Odysseus, at the request of Polyphemus to reveal his name, replies that he is called "Nobody"; to which the Cyclops laughs and says that as a reward he will eat it last. Odysseus, without wasting time, after the Cyclops has fallen asleep dead drunk, calls his friends to him who red-hot the tip of the trunk. They intend to blind Polyphemus so that he can make them escape by opening the entrance. The companions, including Odysseus, take the smoking trunk and approach the bed of Polyphemus, climbing on it and positioning themselves directly behind the monster's head to better implant the trunk. With a cry of encouragement Odysseus and his companions drive the pole, but the cry of pain of Polyphemus is so chilling and resounding that it makes them all fall to the ground, while the Cyclops, waving his hands, creates a great disorder and noise in the cave . He also calls screaming at his Cyclops brothers who, running up, ask what or who is doing him harm. To the answer "Nobody wants to kill me!" the cyclops tell Polyphemus that they cannot do anything and that he must pray to Poseidon and they abandon him.
After a night of constant and agonizing cries, Polyphemus the next morning opens the cave door to let the sheep and goats out. The companions are tied to the bellies of the goats united in groups with ropes, except Odysseus who clings to the fleece of the sheep of the flock, so as not to be recognized by the Cyclops, who touches the sheep one by one. The ram comes out last and Polyphemus, after having said words of affection towards the head of the flock, pronounces a curse against Odysseus calling his father Poseidon to him. Having set sail away from the island, Odysseus, prey to hubris, prefers to mock Polyphemus by telling him that it was Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who blinded him. Polyphemus, mad with rage, climbs a ledge, cursing him and throwing various boulders against the ship, begging his father Poseidon never never reach his home.
At that point King Alcinous interrupts the tale of Odysseus to praise his courage and cunning even if Odysseus says that the mistake of finally revealing his real name to Polyphemus was unforgivable because he brought on the wrath of some Gods like Poseidon and Aeolus who went out of their way to keep it at sea. "Aeolus?" Arete asks, emptying another cup of wine. Odysseus continues the story. Odysseus arrives on the island of Aeolus (Robbie Coltrane), god of the winds, and decides to venture alone. Entering a palace, Odysseus enters a huge and opulent banquet room filled with blue steam and kids playing various instruments and distributing wine. At the end of the room there was a large table full of every good thing, with Aeolus and his family members sitting in the center: his wife, sons and daughters, whom he had married to each other to keep the family together. Aeolus is quite old and burly and has silver hair. He asks the hero to eat with them while recounting his exploits of the Trojan War. Odysseus sits down and will eat for a long time telling and repeating the same stories several times, until he begs the god to let him go. Aeolus agrees and moreover decides to give him all the winds that dominate the world. First, however, he asks Odysseus if any gods persecute him, in which case he could not have given him his gift di lui; Odysseus lies, keeping silent about the fact that Poseidon, after the episode of Polyphemus, is hostile to him. Aeolus, then, gathers all the winds and encloses them in a large sack made with the tanned skin of a ram, and gives them to Odysseus as long as he never opens the jar so as not to trigger a natural cataclysm. Odysseus promises and goes to the ship with a satisfied air to resume the journey, in fact thanks to the winds he would have reached Ithaca much earlier than expected. The other sailors ask Odysseus what is in the sack and Odysseus replies that there is something that will help them get home and that it must never be opened. The ship approached Ithaca quickly helped by the winds until one day, intrigued by the sack and believing that it contained riches, just as the coasts of Ithaca begin to be seen, they open the bag while Odysseus was sleeping exhausted. At that point the winds began to blow wildly and the sky turned black with lightning and thunder.
At that moment Odysseus stops to reflect on his misfortunes, while the sovereigns comment that after all he deserves all his troubles for not having been vigilant and for having set himself against the gods, visiting unknown lands and disobeying the orders of friends with deception. Nausicaa, however, tries to defend Odysseus' choices by saying that they were all made in good faith.
Alcinous invites Odysseus to continue the story, who says that the worst parts of his story have not yet been told. Arete and Nausicaa, on the other hand, are sadder for his wife Penelope, forced to be alone all those years without receiving news from her husband. In the background the camera shows the woman crying in her room. Odysseus says that after being tossed back and forth across the Mediterranean for several months his ship was nearly destroyed by various storms until they spot an unknown island that looked beautiful and lush. Nausicaa asks him how long he's been there. He turns to the beautiful girl and with a disconsolate voice replies "A very long time ..". At that point the camera shows the rundown ship docking on the island's beach with the sailors finally coming ashore after many months. Eventually a woman dressed in a turquoise robe is shown in the distance watching the scene with interest.
