Nolan’s The Odyssey Brings Out the Epic in the Poem

 

With all the bravado, complaining, and politicking over the movie, I decided to watch for myself.

The Odyssey is a foundational epic of the West, exploring themes of courage, overcoming hardship, dealing with moral failures, recognizing danger near and far, and understanding the consequences of one’s actions, even if you never learn from them.

It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Your identity must resound beyond your surroundings, your challenges, or even your accomplishments.

It’s no surprise that The Odyssey founds the Western Tradition, enough so that daring, visionary director Christopher Nolan insisted on composing his own adaptation of the epic.

And he doesn’t disappoint.

That’s not to say that I don’t have criticisms. Even the poem has detractors (“I get angry when good Homer nods off,” Roman satirist Horace slyly pointed out), but Nolan provides a fresh retelling, albeit with some dubious departures from the seminal text, somewhat like the protagonist of many turns in the epic poem.

First, let’s dispense with the woke criticisms.

I was not one bit disappointed by Ellen “Elliot” Page’s part. If an actor delivers a riveting performance, he—or she, and it matters that we recognize the truth of the actor—deserves respect for a job well done. Page gets it done.

Let’s not forget that female character actress Linda Hunt played a male Vietnamese photographer in The Year of Living Dangerously, and she won a well-deserved Supporting Actress Oscar.

Page, as minor character Sinon, plays a powerful role in the whole work. The politics of her moral and biological confusion off-screen didn’t matter to me.

(If Homer can detour, so can I -- For the record, conservative readers, if you insist on basing all entertainment choices on the moral standing of the artist, you will find life to be quite boring: Janice Joplin featured in Rush Limbaugh’s daily radio programs, even though she was a drug addicted and a single mother. His musical preferences never represented his politics, nor should they have cast a condemning shadow.  Elton John is a great musician, even if I oppose his private life choices (and their public consequences). Leonard Di Caprio and Robert De Niro are fine actors, even if I don’t care about climate change or I find De Niro’s anti-Trump rants petty and pathetic.)

Now let’s talk about the African version of Helen of Troy. The sleek black-skinned actress who played Helen of Troy AND her twin sister (not too many spoilers, although everyone should know the Odyssey from middle school or high school English, so there’s that) commanded every scene: tough, nimble, and capable in her capturing the character she portrays. When you watch Black Helen, there are no “Black Lives Matter” vibes shoved in your face. Helen of Troy is beautiful, no matter her melanin count.

In fact, throughout the movie, Odysseus’ crew is composed of men from all backgrounds. There are Southeast Asian, Indian, and even Hispanic actors playing the parts. Guess what? I didn’t care. They played their parts well, and once again—not once did I feel that Nolan was engaging in diversity lottery-lecture scolding to score woke points with Hollywood.

Think about it, folks: we have seen black men play Hamlet, white men play Othello, and women play the main characters in Twelve Angry Men (they just tweak the title to Twelve Angry Jurors). We don’t need to get hung up over skin color or ethnicity or sex when actors and directors are telling (or retelling) excellent, fantastic stories. In fact, the superficial diversity enhances the eternal dynamics of the legends! Works of art stand the test of time, and they can be reproduced by men of any background!

Now, to the movie itself.

Nolan does not disappoint with his innovative filmmaking. Instead of pallid statues of Pallas, and carved mosaics, ancient obsidian pottery, or flat, clean classical storytelling, Nolan gives us a raw, earthy, epic retelling.

He literally brings the many tales of the epic to life before us.

The scene with the Cyclops Polyphemus is gruesome, chilling, intense all rolled into one. When I read Homer’s passages in middle school, then studied them in high school and college, the suspense, the danger, and the intense drama never burst out to me. With Nolan’s direction and the superb acting of Matt Damon as Odysseus, I endure the pain and terror of the misguided Greek mariners.  How would you feel, what would you think, what would you do if you were trapped in a cave, about to be beaten by a vile behemoth? The disgusting brute of a cyclops frightens and enthralls viewers all at once. The incredible imagination of Nolan in his depiction of this ravenous brute not only revives Homer’s epic, but I would add that he brought life to the epic which centuries of academics and literary critics have failed to restore.

Circe transforming Odysseus’ remaining crew into pigs; the sacking of Troy—and the repeated flashbacks depicting destruction of the city after ten years of military standoff; even the terrifying account of Odysseus’ skeleton crew avoiding Charybdis, only to witness in horror as Scylla scoops up and devours six of his crew: all of it staggers our imagination, enhancing the great work of Western literature.

Nolan’s most incredible re-adaptation occurs when Odysseus travels to Hades to speak with the blind prophet Tiresias. This scene I will not relate in detail in order to avoid spoiling the rich, dark, gothic clarity of Nolan’s invigorating retelling. It is chilling, amazing, and overpowering all at once, and provides the final scene for Ellen “Sinon” Page, which serves as a unifying element of the story.

The imaginative realness that Nolan and team thrust into this epic stands out in many forms. We behold only the imposing figure of Menelaus in black armor and his curly hair. We marvel at the ingenious Trojan Horse and the immense challenges of Odysseus and his men hiding in that equine trap. Far from degrading or detracting from the source material, Nolan’s Odyssey enhances the work—and makes you want to check it out for yourself.

The initial criticisms I had of the movie, the sense that it took massive departures from the original text, I found to be incorrect on my part. There were integral parts of the epic poem which students never cover in school, but Nolan includes them—and accurately—including the touching sub-plot of Prince Telemachus searching for his father, refusing to give him up or give up on him.

And who can forget Anne Hathaway as the wise, cunning, and beautiful wife Penelope in an Oscar-worthy portrayal? She invests her role with Hollywood emotion as well as Ancient Greek pathos; we admire this strong woman for her fidelity and courage, while also recognizing her inevitable frailty.

I disliked one considerable detour from the poem’s main themes. Odysseus as written has a pride problem and gets humbled. Odysseus on screen is wracked with guilt and struggles to overcome the trauma. That’s a departure I would not have chosen, but my detraction should not discourage you from watching it.

The Odyssey movie brings out the epic in the poem, and you should see it (and you won’t nod off. Promise!)

 

LAUSD: Morally and Financially Bankrupt

 

Los Angeles Unified School District is having a hard time paying the bills, teaching the kids, and thus keeping its doors open.

Clearly, the administrators, bureaucrats, and the elected Board of Trustees don’t handle addition and subtraction all that well. The district is failing basic math, and not just for the students.

According to ABC News Los Angeles, LAUSD is on the brink of bankruptcy:

The Los Angeles Unified School District could run out of money within about a year and is showing severe signs of financial distress, according to county education authorities.

 

The nation's second-largest school district, which serves more than half a million students, faces possible insolvency, prompting the Los Angeles County Office of Education to take action.

 

The district's last student population estimate listed 497,105 enrollees. That’s LESS than half a million. Even ABC News is having number troubles.

 

 

What happened, and what could happen if the district doesn’t get its act together?

 

Officials cited massive union contracts estimated to cost more than $1 billion annually, along with declining enrollment and reduced state funding, as factors contributing to a growing deficit and the possibility of state oversight.

 

"Worst case scenario is the state takes over, and this goes under receivership under the state, and that takes a long time to get out of, and it is really hard to maintain any control over curriculum, over class size," Bacall said.

 

I am shocked---SHOCKED— (not!) that the school district is going belly up, and the parents are taking their students out.

The warning signs had been blaring for years.

The usual suspects cannot be ignored, and are easy to catalogue:

·         Plummeting Enrollment

·         Rising Inflation

·         Excessive Pensions and Salary Costs

·         Administrative bloat with Diminished Transparency and Oversight.

·         Lawsuit payouts

The biggest killer, obviously, is the plummeting enrollment. Los Angeles Unified kids aren’t learning, that’s for sure. According to US News and World Report, math proficiency scores have been plummeting across all grades. Reading scores show some progress from elementary to high school, but less than half of LAUSD high schoolers are proficient.

In the real world, companies without customers close down. In perverse contrast, government institutions get their money, whether they serve or not.

And LAUSD is not serving the public interest.

On top of that, LAUSD schools are not even safe. The students routinely run into abuse and harm from their peers—and sometimes their teachers! The rising rates of violence are frequently on the news. The feds could pull their funding because of the rising number of predator teachers who get transferred instead of incarcerated!

Getting a bad education from LAUSD was expected, but the student population was still relatively high.

Twenty years ago, I was a French teacher in South Gate, in a new school built on the site of an old General Motors plant. New school, lots of students (almost 3,000!), and there still weren’t enough classrooms. I had 45 students in one class! I could barely move around the room, and some students feared for their safety if there was a fire. When I threatened to call the fire marshal, the union rep leaned on the assistant principal, who moved three students out and dumped them in a P.E. class—those poor teachers had to deal with 70 students per period!

 

See how only three students were removed. Not much help there! Notice the bureaucratic hustle to get something done, too.

 

Fast forward to now, and LAUSD high schools, on average, manage around 1,000 students. Some of the schools should have been closed by now!

 

What changed the student population, then, if the bad education wasn’t enough? The dam broke with the COVID outbreak, which ended parental non-involvement. COVID-19 may have shut down the schools, but the whole ordeal opened the eyes of parents throughout the state. They saw the left-wing garbage their children were forced to learn. They saw the bad curriculum, the lack of attention to detail, integrity, and success. Los Angeles parents had had enough, and they voted with their feet, sometimes moving their kids to local districts (Downey, Torrance, Wiseburn Unified in the LAX-area are some notable examples), or they just left the state entirely.

 

COVID was a tipping point for another reason. Five years ago, I joined LAUSD teachers and parents protesting the outrageous health mandates from the district to “protect the kids.” Political affiliation or ideological leanings didn’t matter to all concerned attendees. Employees, students, and parents across the district protested in front of 333 South Beaudry, demanding that the district rescind its onerous vaccine mandates and mask rules and keep the schools open!

During the main rally after our march around the district office, teachers complained about the increased burden of contending with discipline issues and health demands. Then one of the students addressed the crowd, and her comments worked out to something like this: She lamented all the woke nonsense being shoved down her throat. She was tired of hearing all the race nonsense. She was tired of learning about the LGBT agenda and sitting through all the sexual diversity displays. Her summation was crystal clear about LAUSD, that they were not teaching anything, and then they make them wear these stupid masks, too!

Despite the rallying cry of parents and teachers, the district kept cracking down on the holdout teachers, staff, and students who had refused the jab. Facing the dim prospect of never entering the classroom again if they refused the dubious poke, students left.

The district didn’t care. They were looking for absolute obedience from the rank and file. If you didn’t step up, you got the boot.

And the teachers union—ULTA (United Teachers of Los Angeles)—didn’t care.

Five years later, their wicked, progressive partisanship could not be clearer. They don’t focus on education. They focus on leftist politics and progressive activism. In 2025, I was stunned by the large number of UTLA teachers protesting at Elon Musk’s Tesla headquarters in Hawthorne, CA. Didn’t they have more important things to do, like grading papers, preparing lessons, and contacting parents?

Their most pressing concern was stopping federal cuts to public education and the Department of Education. What they refuse to talk about—and this returns to the bureaucracy issue—is that public education could accomplish great things for students and parents with half the overhead, more accountability, lots of school choice, and efficient hiring and firing practices.

UTLA shouts “DOA!” at all of these reforms.

And the parents say, “CU Later.”

And now LAUSD announces that they’re broke.

Frankly, this is a fitting end for one of the largest school districts in the country. This kind of disruption, the cold equations of supply and demand, will do more to clean out the left-wing corruption that has marred states like California and New York while also limiting (and perhaps one day) shutting down the inordinate power of the National Education Foundation and the attending teachers unions across the country attached like tentacles to this destructive interest group.

LAUSD has been morally bankrupt for a long time, much of it from a corrosive teachers' union, inept and cowardly politicians, and misplaced priorities. Now their fiscal bankruptcy has come, and not a moment too soon.

Ron DeSantis: The President the US Needed, But Didn’t Deserve

The Iowa caucuses are over. Trump won over his closest rival by double-digits, two-to-one over Governor Ron DeSantis.

I wish the Governor of Florida the best, but let's face it: this primary is over. Granted, the Iowa caucuses have not been the strongest indicator of who the GOP nominee would be in many elections. In all those cases, however, you did not have a former incumbent running for re-election. This time, the indication is clear: Trump is going to be the GOP nominee.

The problem is not the candidate, but Republicans, who are rejecting the greatest governor in a generation for a has-been.

In 2016, I had supported Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for President because he accomplished unprecedented reforms and advanced a robust conservative agenda for his time. On the presidential trail, he fizzled out in September 2015, over-extending his resources without honing a strong, pugilist populist message against frontrunner Donald J. Trump.

In 2023 and into this year, DeSantis corrected all those campaign mistakes. He properly apportioned his campaign funding. He fought the media hard and won. He went after Trump and all his failures and false promises. He did the Full Grassley, he connected with everyday voters, he stepped up for every debate. He is a masterful communicator, refreshing if not riveting. Yet for all that, Iowa GOP caucus voters said "No thank you," and voted for the former incumbent.

DeSantis did everything right, and he still lost. The fault, dear reader, is not in the candidate, but in the voters. They see themselves as underlings who need Trump again. They long for the Trump administration, with its lower taxes, cheap gas, better economy, etc. Yet for some reason, they have no problem forgetting about COVID, all the broken promises, the bad management in the White House, his failure to secure the border, etc. For some reason, nothing is ever Trump's fault, and it doesn't matter that he didn't get the job done the first time.

What is going on here?

A stunning and sobering reality, when it comes to politics, campaigns, and elections, Republicans are the liberals, while Democrats are the business-minded conservatives. Democrats assess the costs, the strategies, the efforts needed to get the job done. They invest campaign funding where they are most likely to flip a seat and win an election. They will search for every resource, legal and extra-legal, to win the election. 

Democrats have to win to fulfill their promises. Republicans don't really have to win to get their supporters what they want. Darren Beattie and Congressman Andy Biggs furnished a great analysis of grift and graft in politics. For Democrats, the grift is taxpayer dollars, so they have to win elections to hand out the spoils. For Republicans, for the Right in general, the campaign itself is the grift. Consultants get 15% of the campaign funds, whether their candidate wins or loses. The incentive to win is not nearly as strong, and it doesn't matter in the long run. Also, many grassroots Republicans are more interested in conferences and gatherings, taking photos with media influencers or getting a chance to meet a Congressman. They just want to party.

But let’s reflect on what a winner DeSantis is.

DeSantis destroyed the Democratic Party in Florida. He didn't just score big wins for the Florida GOP and enact a robust agenda. Hundreds of thousands of voters are joining the Florida Republican Party, taking over county after county, and they are achieving unprecedented gains throughout the state. Democrats seek to turn their states into one-party fiefdoms. Republican Governor DeSantis has shown a robust attention to this kind of total victory against Woke, Cultural Marxism, and Racialized Communism.

He doesn't just fight, he doesn't just win, he wins bigly and demoralizes the Left.

Yet Iowa GOP voters went for Trump. Sad.

This outcome reminds me of a reality TV show in which a lucky lady gets to choose between two eligible bachelors. One is a wealthy investor, owns a home, multiple properties, has a strong, steady career, but he's a nerd. The other guy is a buff weightlifter, good looking and charismatic, but still loves at home with his parents.

DeSantis would be the best of both of those eligible bachelors. He is good on TV, he makes strong points, he has a vision for the future. He wins big culturally, economically, and even spiritually. Politically speaking, he is wise and good-looking. And yet, the voters are turning down the rich stud and going with a flabby sellout who talks big and accomplishes little.

Why?

It all comes down to identity politics and feelings. It reminds me of domestic violence victims who have become so attached to their trauma, who identity all too closely with their abuser, that they cannot see themselves living with anyone else, or getting someone better. There are serious problems in the American voting electorate at this point. They are so desperate for former times, that they will take the wife-beater who at least paid some bills and provided a roof over their head versus Prince Charming who won't treat them like trash.

Instead of reason and research, voters are going with nostalgia and coping. They want to feel good, and they want to believe that they are saving the country because they show up to vote once every four years and watch Fox News faithfully. That does not equal victory, and many of these voters are going to learn the hard way that feelings, thoughts, prayers, and lots of hope do not win elections and cannot shape the culture.

Governor DeSantis was the president we needed, but not the President that the United States deserves. Iowa voters missed their opportunity to elect the most consistently conservative candidate in a generation, if not an entire century, because they wanted to chase the headlines and feel good about themselves. The problem was not the candidate, but the voters, and changing the voters is going to take much longer than one election cycle.

Canadian Decries Canada, Explains Why He Can't Wait to Flee

This video is telling and powerful, very disturbing, as well. 

 Canada is a Communist State, a Frozen Banana Republic, and natural-born Canadians can't wait to flee.

         

One Million Moms Say NO! to Disney

 

Dear Arthur, Alerting all parents! One Million Moms needs your help to make sure as many people as possible are aware of Disney pushing the LGBTQ agenda on families, particularly children, in the upcoming animated movie Strange World, set to hit theaters on Wednesday, November 23. Disney is no longer being discrete, but now Disney has traded its subtlety for intentionality. Strange World is a film about a family of explorers traveling to a new and bizarre land. In one scene, the character Ethan flirts with a boy named Diazo in front of his friends, who tease him in a friendly and warm-hearted way. His father, Searcher Clade, later joins in and embarrasses him in “an overeager show of acceptance,” according to a scene description by Variety. The scene portrays the son as being very shy in front of his boy crush, and his dad comes in and says, “So nice to meet you! My son talks about you all the time,” further embarrassing his son. Obviously, this part of the movie is a nod to inclusivity, along with a blatant attempt by Disney to normalize a same-sex crush. CBN News reported that right after Florida passed its controversial Parental Rights in Education Act in late March, Disney CEO Bob Chapek promised to be “a better ally for the LGBTQ+ community.” Likewise, Karey Burke, president of general entertainment for Disney, declared that she hoped to see “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters” in all genres of Disney entertainment. The Disney that parents knew as children is long gone. Disney has now decided to be politically correct instead of providing family-friendly programming. But Disney should stick to entertaining, not pushing an agenda. Please share this with your friends and family to make sure they are aware of the gay teen romance in Strange World and are not blindsided by it. As moms, we all want to know when Disney is attempting to desensitize our children by normalizing the LGBTQ lifestyle. Take Action: I encourage you to join us in telling Walt Disney Animation Studios that we are not buying what they are selling. Sign our pledge and commit to boycotting the new movie, ‘Strange World.’ After you sign the pledge, please share this alert via email and on your social media pages. Help us spread the truth about this Disney film today! Blessings,

Monica Cole, Director OneMillionMoms.com

Idaho Freedom Foundation: Time for a Special Session

From Wayne Hoffman of the Idaho Freedom Foundation: 

I understand that Gov. Brad Little is considering calling legislators back to town to cut taxes. That's an excellent idea. There is no reason in the world that our hard earned money should sit unused in the state treasury. 

Moreover, with a $2 billion budget surplus -- that’s more than 40% of the general fund -- the decision to cut taxes without delay ought to be simple. It's a low risk proposition that happens to be great for Idahoans. 

A special session isn’t a done deal yet. Remember in 2020, the governor resisted calling a special session even though the public was demanding action to protect them from government Covid mandates.

If it does come to pass, Little alone would set a special session agenda, and he has been clear on his desire to cut taxes. That means he could use the session to continue delivering on income tax relief and follow through on his campaign promise to repeal Idaho’s sales tax on groceries. The latter has the double benefit of giving Idahoans relief from inflation at the grocery store. 

And if tax rebates are in order, Little should use funds to provide relief to Idahoans crushed under the weight of exploding property taxes. 

And while lawmakers are in their seats in Boise, this would be an excellent time to make sure our schools aren't used by the Biden administration to implement pro-transgender policies.

We pointed out this problem in June and suggested a special session then. Little and other governors wrote a letter protesting the administration's actions last month. But a letter is hardly the protection our kids deserve.

If you recall, Biden issued an executive order that asserts, “Children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports.” 

His executive order threatens to create Lia Thomas copycat situations in school locker rooms in Idaho and across the country. 

As lawmakers last session appropriated the federal funds that would obligate our schools to set up trans bathrooms and make other woke accommodations, this is a problem that they alone are needed to fix.

There's an immediate need to protect schoolchildren by undoing the availability of the money lawmakers appropriated, replacing the same with state dollars, or directing schools to not expend funds on wokeism. If Idaho does nothing, the mere act of participating in federal school lunch programs is enough for the federal government to make demands about locker rooms and bathrooms. 

A special session can take on both issues.

It can be a session that repatriates unused tax dollars to the people where they belong. And it can also help put the brakes on Washington, D.C.'s woke foolishness. 

But if the governor uses the session to go on a spending spree -- dumping more money into education or other government programs -- it will be a disaster. Limited to tax cuts and protecting students from Biden's social justice agenda, a special session would do Idahoans a whole lot of good. 

Revolt Against the Mouse: Disney Pays the Price for Going Woke

REVOLT AGAINST THE MOUSE Our campaign against Disney has put a price on woke capital.  Two weeks ago, amid the controversy about The Walt Disney Company’s opposition to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, I released exclusive internal videos from Disney that revealed the company’s plans to inject gender ideology into its children’s programming. The videos drove the news cycle for more than week, generated billions of media impressions, and shifted the national debate about public education and gender ideology. More importantly, my team helped connect the story to public policy, using it as a supporting narrative for activism against woke capital. The goal was to force Disney to pay a price for transgressing the values of middle-class families and forcing left-wing gender ideology onto children. And the early evidence suggests that this campaign was a smashing success. Here are some of the outcomes: • Ensured that congressional Republicans will not vote to extend Disney’s copyrights on characters such as Mickey Mouse when they expire at the end of next year, delivering a multibillion-dollar intellectual property loss to the company. • Inspired multiple Disney employees to speak out against the company’s left-wing sexual politics, putting a countervailing internal pressure on executives. • Sparked grassroots demonstrations at Disney’s theme parks in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California. • Strengthened the position of Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans, who courageously stood up to Disney and passed the Parental Rights in Education Act. Following the anti-Disney backlash, some Florida legislators are even considering eliminating Disney’s special exemptions and tax breaks within the state. We are building a new model of conservative activism: waging narrative and symbolic warfare, mobilizing grassroots parent-driven protests, designing robust policies to change incentives, and supporting strong leaders who are willing stand with families against hostile and nihilistic elite institutions. As always, this activism depends on your support. Please consider becoming a $5 or $10 monthly patron and help strike a blow against woke capital. Share Tweet

You’re receiving this email because you signed up at christopherrufo.com 5114 Point Fosdick Dr., Suite F #3001, Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Unsubscribe • Update your email