Die Abenteuer des Odysseus

I am a big fan of fantasy movies and more if it concerns mythologic episodes. Next to Jason and the Argonauts we also have the Odyssey which is according to me a wonderful movie. Homerus classical epos about Odysseus and the movements after the fall of Troy have been filmed in a magnificent way in the Odyssey. The gods make Odysseus and his men to puppets in a game. They push them to make long trips which delay their trip with years and bring them in conflict with Circe, the cyclope and Poseidon. Finally Odysseus even enters the underworld. In the meanwhile the wife of Odysseus, Penelope must get the men away from her, who want to have the properties of Odysseus. They think that he is dead, but with the help Athens he continues searching his way home. This movie receives from me a 8 out of 10 because it is an enjoyable movie which also gives you some history lessons, so 2 flies in 1 hit, a good movie and education. Well done !!!!!!!!!!!

I watched this movie last evening after not seeing it for at least four years and was completely absorbed by it again. I used to show it to my year eight high school classes as a tie-in to our introductory ancient history syllabus and the movie was well received. One of the most important aspects of movie/doco watching for adolescents is the time a particular scene stays before their eyes-the longer it stays the sooner adolescent-fidget sets in and the movie/doco, regardless of its inherent strength, is lost for them. Seen from this perspective, The Odyssey is a superbly made film.

Besides this superlative editing, the strength of the characters is dominant from the opening scenes and simply becomes stronger as the movie progresses, climaxing with the wonderful Calypso scene near the end. Vanessa William's superb rendition of her character is but a mirror of the other great acting roles distributed throughout the movie. It says much about the film adaptation of a mythological work that is roughly three thousand years old that the actors can make the essential humanness of the epic ring true. Dare I say it was "believable!"

If you want to view an extremely watchable movie then make every attempt to see this one-in my opinion, everything about it is fabulous!

I thoroughly enjoyed the book of the epic, which I read recently, and was pleasantly surprised to find this on video.

Obviously, there are significant omissions, edits and rewrites from the original - and quite long - text, not to mention the change to a standard timescale (rather than using constant flashbacks and anecdotes as in Homer's tale). Having said that, a surprising amount of detail did make it into this film, and the locations especially were almost all perfect - just as I'd imagined them. I even 'recognised' places before they were mentioned by name. Kudos to the production team.

Where the story is simplified, it is done carefully and logically, and leaves in virtually all of Odysseus's more fantastic adventures - dispensing with most of the hospitality, minor characters' subplots - Telemachus' journey is over in seconds - and (unfortunately) with any scenes on Mount Olympus. The net effect is of the story told entirely from Odysseus' viewpoint, while keeping an eye on events back at his palace in Ithaca.

I'll not go too far into the story - since that is why you'll be watching in the first place - but I will say that the special effects are mostly quite good, and don't detract in any way. Of the entire cast I only found Telemachus to be somewhat whiney & annoying, but you manage. Casting is generally very good (especially Calypso - wow).

If there is a problem with this film, it is that by cutting out so much of the rituals, travel and more complicated deceptions, it takes away much of the scale, grandeur and 'epic'ness of it all - while still taking 3 hours to watch. A lot of the ritual and repetition of the original text is actually a large part of its charm (as well as an entirely necessary story-telling mechanic), and I think it could be adapted in full if turned into a short series.

In summary, this is a decent version, but you'll get the most enjoyment out of this film if you've already read The Odyssey (which, as with most book/film adaptations, is significantly better). If you're thinking of watching this instead of reading The Odyssey - please don't. You'll have trouble getting into the text if you think you know what's coming next.

And for the cast & crew of this film - well done. I wish there were a bit more ambition amongst TV and film companies these days.

"The Odyssey", purportedly the work of the same man who wrote "The Iliad", is a long epic poem which is world-renowned as a tale of adventure. The greatness of this adaptation is that the ethical central character, Odysseus or 'Ulysses', King of Ithaca, is treated as the first man in history able to think rationally--to control his passions. The filmmakers do not spend more than a few minutes on the "Odysseys" background, the war by the ancient Argives' alliance against the city of Ilium or "Troy". The thrust of the piece is the wanderings undertaken by Ulysses AFTER he returns home safely from that war. His wife Penelope waits for him; his family never gives up. But meanwhile, even as his son grows, the kingdom's nobles grow bolder. They demand Penelope marry one of them, since they believe Ulysses is dead. By night, Penelope unweaves what she has woven of her wedding dress during daylight. The bulk of the film follows Ulysses on what amounts to a shipborne Cook's tour of fictionally-reworked famous ancient places about the Mediterraean, to confrontations with the man-eating Cyclops and his herd of sheep, with Circe the goddess who can transform men into swine, with the Lotos eaters and the Gulf of the world. This movie is a special-effects extravaganza with high-tech effects and a solid cast to back up the adventure by way of intelligent direction and good dialogue. The very large made-for-television epic was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Konchalovsky did the adaptation and Christopher Solimine the teleplay. The bright cinematography for a very long and colorful adventure was the work of Sergei Kopzlov, the original music composed by Eduard Artemyev; the elaborate set decorations were done by Kren Brooks, with costumes by Charles Knode. The outstanding production design was the achievement of Roger Hall. In the huge cast, Armand Assante seemed an intelligent Odysseus save that he lacked a classical speech training. Greta Scacchi was Penelope, Isaballa Rossellini Athena, Irene Papas Anticleia, and Jeroen Krabbe King Alcinous. Vanessa Williams played Calypso, Christopher Lee Tiresias, Bernadette Peters Circe and Geraldine Chaplin played Eurycleia. Many others enacted the parts of persons in the Trojan War, the suitors at Ithaca's court, assorted divinities and personages encountered by Odeysseus and his mates in the course of his ship's many adventures. Katie Carr was Nausicaa, who helped him when he was shipwrecked; and Alan Stenson portrayed Odysseus's son Telemcahus. From the Trojan sequences to the slaughter of the offending nobles by team-Ulysses, he in disguise using an ancient horn-bow only he could string to perform the deed, this is an exciting, eye-filling and well-planned cinematic adventure. It was a great surprise when it was offering among many mean-streets naturalistic films in 1997. Not to be missed.

I could make many easy criticisms of The Odyssey, but those criticisms would certainly feel unfair. What this production achieves is to give you full respect for what is being attempted here, and that if it fails to fully realise the story of Odysseus, it is not for want of trying but technological, budget and time restrictions.

Let me put those criticisms nevertheless, because you do want to know what you are getting into. Firstly, it's extremely condensed. The decade long Trojan War, the recruitment of Odysseus, the deaths of Hector and Achilles, the Trojan Horse - are all wrapped up in under 30 minutes in what isn't much more than a montage. Now - this is absolutely necessary in a 3 hour mini series but it does feel like opening the first Rocky movie with the training montage. You don't get to meet the characters as they start their journey - you just have to jump on board as they gallop towards the middle.

Additionally this means that many of the actors simply don't have time to build their characters, Odysseus' men are just a rowdy crowd of exchangeable faces with zero distinction between them except one plays the flute, one is fat, one is brave but foolhardy, one has a beard etc. It's a tough criticism because it's no one's fault without tripling the runtime, but unfortunately, watching them get picked off one by one leaves you feeling nothing. Both Odysseus and Penelope suffer as characters in the same way, even though they obviously get the most screentime, but it is absolute credit to Armand Assante and Greta Scacchi that with such threadbare time for character work until at least the final third of the film, they nevertheless create compelling and powerful performances. Other big name actors acquit themselves well. Some of the direction is contrived rather than natural for the same reason. The need to get across an idea in the time allowed, rather than to grow a scene naturally.

To my mind, the biggest problem is the sound design. It's one of those movies where it sounds like much of the location audio has been studio dubbed, whether it actually has been or not. It's really obvious when the scene switches from Calypso's island, back to Penelope and Telemachus. The sound for the latter picks up the atmosphere and acoustics of the location, whereas the former, the sound is overlaid and flat, with no feel for the location. It's really noticeable and is probably the biggest criticism that I would lay at the feet of the production as opposed to a constraint of the medium in which they are working.

The special effects are - of their time. And that time being when computer graphics were a tool rather than an art.

But I did get to a point where none of this mattered. What does matter is the ambition of the piece. It successfully manages to convey the epic nature of Odysseus' journey. You must approach it with the same attitude as you would with the book, with your imagination open and willing to use it to expand on what you are watching. It does as much justice to the epic as was likely possible at the time and is well worth seeking out.