MovieChat Forums > The Odyssey (1997) Discussion > The Odyssey vs L'Odissea

The Odyssey vs L'Odissea


I have seen both movies and I must say L'Odissea is far better. See for yourself : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064750/

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Ditto, just a pity the latter doesn't have English subtitles in the dvd.

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Yes, I absolutely agree.

The Assante version doesn't do any justice, in my opinion, to the poetic language and complexity of Homer's epic, and very little to the strong, smart but also arrogant aspects of Odysseus' character. Sure, it touches on them, but most of the time all male characters in this movie behave either like bodybuilders or buffoons. It's all very sketchy and superficial, and, given the relatively short time frame, full of unnecessary changes.

Even the brilliant 'my name is Nobody' ruse is completely wasted, because the effect isn't shown.

Just look at this clip from L'Odissea and compare this to how Polyphemos the Cyclops is handled in the later TV series. Instead of a kind of plastic sumo wrestler and some inept dialogue, we get very good staging, effects, camera movements and fine acting. And this is from 1968, about 30 years before the Assante version!

Of course, it's in Italian, but don't let that put you off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQTVD1KA-Xo

Then again, because L'Odissea hasn't been released recently in any English format or with English subtitles, this really isn't an option to introduce English-speaking children or audiences in general to Ulysses/Odysseus.

A real pity!

Dicky


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