ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” opens Friday, to global anticipation and some controversy over his casting choices — but what do Greeks think?Conversation about adaptations often revolves around how closely they follow a source text. But in a country where Homer’s story is taught and retold at all schools, many point to how the epic has been kept alive for nearly 3,000 years: not despite reinvention, but because of it.“What we want children to understand is that every new creation is exactly that — a new creation,” Filippos Mantzaris, who teaches “The Odyssey” to seventh graders, told The Associated Press. The film, starring Matt Damon as King Odysseus and a number of Hollywood stars, follows Homer’s outline: The king’s return home from war through gods and monsters to find a palace overrun by rivals.
Students grow up interpreting HomerIn seventh grade, “The Odyssey” is taught in all Greek classrooms.In Mantzaris’ class, students eagerly debate Odysseus’ encounters with monsters and other adventures. They are taught to compare the hero’s intelligence with his strength, ask whether revenge is moral, whether the battle-hardened king is truly a role model, and whether his killing of his wife’s suitors is justified. Role-playing exercises encourage children to imagine what they would do in Odysseus’ place.“It’s an amazing literary text, with which children can identify, perhaps see Odysseus in themselves, but also see their own homeland,” Mantzaris said.
