When the New York premiere of Christopher Nolan’s take on “The Odyssey” was held on July 14, looming over the red carpet in Manhattan was an almost-40-foot statue of a horse. A few other giant equines have been touring the country (and the UK) to promote the film, which is also using an image of the iconic wooden Trojan horse in some of its posters. And while the original ancient Greek poem doesn’t actually cover the events of the famous mythological bait-and-switch in real detail, it’s still clearly a potent symbol for Nolan’s new movie — and fans who’ve already seen it understand why.
In a visceral and thrilling sequence, Nolan takes audiences inside the Trojan horse for an extended, gritty scene that lays out the cramped, horrifying conditions for those hiding inside, underscoring their maniacal, animalistic hunger to prevail in battle.
The minutes-long scene is without parallel in the many previous pop culture depictions of the mythological moment. Max Nelson, an associate professor of Greek and Roman studies who has taught courses about the ancient world’s on-screen depictions at Canada’s University of Windsor, said he couldn’t recall another work entrapping audiences with the Greeks inside the horse in such a dark manner. “The harsh conditions for the Greeks waiting for days inside the Trojan horse have not been shown on screen before,” Nelson said.
