Review: The Odyssey

The Odyssey debuted in theaters this weekend. I went to see it yesterday in the afternoon. At my local cineplex, the movie played in six of the twenty theaters. I saw it in the afternoon and it was sold out. When I was leaving, the movie theater was packed. This is definitely the blockbuster of the summer. Was it worth the hype?

I was an English teacher for many years and taught The Odyssey several times. The movie did not match the epic, but that’s Hollywood. They take ancient writings, books, plays, myths, poems, and whatever else and then make it their own. With that in mind, I never expected the movie to be one hundred percent true to Homer. But the movie followed the myth close enough to enjoy the 8th BCE poem. Odysseus’s famous adventures came to life in a mesmerizing way.

My favorite adventure that Odysseus and his army encounter is with Circe the witch. The transformation from man to pig was astounding. The Cyclops adventure was also amazing. The acting was top-notch. Matt Damon deserves an award. He played a level-headed, warrior leader who thought before he acted in every dilemma he and his men came upon. I also thought Anne Hathaway was convincing as a grieving widow, Penelope, forced to take a new husband or lose her kingdom. The way she stalled, hoping that Odysseus would still be alive was believable. She can get her eyes to well up in tears on command. Lastly, I was really impressed with Robert Pattinson who plays an evil suitor. You can actually feel him breathing down Hathaway’s neck as he sees an opportunity to take her as his wife and ultimately take the kingdom.

I saw Christopher Nolan plugging his movie on a few talk shows. He claims all the shots were filmed with real actors in real places. The movie was shot in Greece, Italy, Morocco, Iceland, Scotland, and the USA. Some of the scenes had hundreds of real people, not AI, in them. He used an IMAX camera which are said to have the clearest perspective and resolution in film that are ideal for the IMAX screen. There are disadvantages to using this camera, mainly time and money. The cameras need to be reloaded every 3 minutes which require the actors have to constantly stop and then restart the scene. They are also the most expensive to use.

Christopher Nolan has made several noteworthy films including the Batman series with Batman Begins, Dark Knight, and Dark Knight Rises, some of my personal favorites. He also deserves an award.

                            Favignana, Sicily

This is one of those movies that will go down as a classic. Some Facebook posts are going around that the movie in an abomination of Homer’s Odyssey-not true. Some claim the movie is “woke” because there is a trans actor who has a few lines. I wouldn’t have even known had there not been posts. This actor did not make or break the movie or make it political in anyway. I had an enjoyable afternoon being highly entertained through this Greek epic. High schoolers will not complain when they are required to read the poem. I hope the teacher plays the movie after the test.  Great escape into another world! 5/5 Stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Golem

    To piggyback onto my last post, Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets had a golem as a character. He explained the myth the book, but I wanted to know more. A golem is technically a being that was created from dust or mud or clay. It was most famously conjured up by a Jewish rabbi, Judah Loew ben Bezalel in order to protect the Jews from persecution in Prague during the 1500s. 

    The golem creation originated from a form of mystical Judaism called Kabbalah.  The golem has no soul and cannot think for himself, relying on instructions from his creator. According to the myth, the Prague golem became dangerous. The rabbi had to put it to sleep. He supposedly deactivated the golem by taking a magic parchment out of his mouth. The rabbi then hid the golem in the attic of the Old-New Synagogue. The attic is supposedly locked to this day. When the golem was alive, the Hebrew word “emet” was written on the golem’s forehead. When the golem was “turned-off” (not sure if it ever died), the rabbi changed the word to “met” or dead in Hebrew. 

    Parts of the myth date all the way back to the Book of Creation. Adam was an unformed mass or golem for the first twelve hours of his existence. The golem also is mentioned in the Bible, Psalm 139:16:

Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.

Unformed body in Hebrew means “golmi.”

    To conjure up a golem, one needs to chant parts of the Hebrew alphabet and write one of the names of God on the clay that is being used as the body. This ritual has been picked up by Wiccans, pagans and witches. Instead of clay, statues and dolls are sometimes substituted.
    Although the Prague golem is the most famous, others have conjured up golems. The first to create a golem may have been Abraham. In Midrashic tradition, he created golem animals and people. The sage Rava from the Book of Creation or Sefer Yetzirah created a golem and sent it to another rabbi to converse with. This golem wasn’t very talkative. The rabbi commanded the golem to “return to dust.” A couple of other rabbis created fat calves and then eat them.

    The golem is part of Czech culture. Walking tours and golem hunts are popular in the Jewish Quarter of Prague. The golem is a character in several video games such as Minecraft, Pokemon, Legend of  Zelda, and Dungeons and Dragons. Occult practitioners still attempt to create golems today. 

 

 

Review of Dan Brown's Secret of Secrets

Dan Brown's latest and greatest Secrets of Secrets is another Robert Langdon mystery that takes place in Prague. In the novel Robert Langdon has a girlfriend, Katherine Soloman, who is a big deal in area of noetics. If you don't know what that is, let me enlighten you. It's a real thing.

Noetics: From the Greek noēsis/ noētikos, meaning inner wisdom, direct knowing, or subjective understanding. As defined by the philosopher William James in 1902, noetic refers to "states of insight into depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance, all inarticulate though they remain; and as a rule they carry with them a curious sense of authority..." Psychology Today

In other words, it's about consciousness. There is a lot of parapsychology in this field. Brown does a great job sprinkling in how noetics is linked to many areas of supernatural study. 

Robert Langdon tags along to his girlfriend's lecture in Prague and immediately he and Katherine are knee deep in a malicious study that abuses people for noetic advancement. Langdon's brilliant girlfriend has studied human consciousness for decades and knows how to tap into a universal bank knowledge, like an Akashic record. Her findings interfere with an American secret project that wants to use consciousness as a weapon.

The story, like all his novels, is fast-paced and uses the setting as if it's another character in the book. This is one of the reasons I love Brown. As usual, he had me Googling all of the highlights of Prague. 

Some of the Czech highlights include:

The Golem: A Czech myth that was created by a 16th rabbi who invented a monster from clay in order to protect the Jewish population.

Prague Castle: This is where Katherine gives her lecture on noetics. Prague Castle is supposedly the biggest royal complex in the world.

St. Vitus Cathedral: The largest church in Prague. Founded by King Wenceslaus, kings and queens were coronated here. The king later became a saint and has a dedicated chapel in the church.

Absinthe: This famous liquor claims to have hallucinogenic properties. It's high alcohol contains wormwood, anise, and fennel. It's also called the green fairy.

Folimanka Park: This famous park has underground bunkers built during the Cold War.

Charles Bridge: A medieval bridge that crosses the Vltava River and one of Prauge's biggest attractions.

Klementium Library: One of the most beautiful Baroque libraries in the world that houses many famous books. 

Brown masterfully describes the city in precise detail. I am going to Prague later this year. This entertaining book is the best way to learn about Prague's attractions. 

Brown is known for being tough on religion (Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons). I don't know if he is an atheist, but from other novels I would guess that he is not a believer in Christ. I am a believer, and his viewpoint doesn't bother me. After reading Secrets of Secrets, he seems more open to a higher power. My only criticism of Brown is character development. He puts his heart and soul into the setting and non-stop action, but leaves his characters flat. But that doesn't matter much. The book is still a brilliant page-turner. 5/5 Stars.