Some Critics Accuse The Odyssey of Failing Where it Matters Most: Inspiring a New Generation of Travelers

Dark. Dingy. A barren and sexless wasteland where death lingers around every corner and the food is terrible. These are all words that could be used to describe the country where the epic journey of Odysseus takes place, at least according to director Christopher Nolan's representation of Greece. But a controversial portrayal of the country as ugly and dangerous is far from the only problem with the blockbuster film according to some critics who have been to Greece.

Charybdis, seen here depicted in a scene from The Odyssey threatening to destroy Odysseus's ship, the Penelope II, has filed a defamation suit against Nolan and co-producer Emma Thomas

"It's a mess," travel historian Dick Jeeves explained. "People have been visiting Greece for centuries, and I've been there a few times myself. That's not at all what I remember it being like. Where were the crystal-clear turquoise waters, the sun-drenched islands, the fine-grained white sand beaches with those lovely hints of pink? Where were the whitewashed villages and the amazing local cuisine? This movie isn't going to inspire travel, and travel is what brings people together through shared experience and an opportunity to break down cultural barriers."

Though Jeeves appreciates Nolan's emphasis on practical effects over CGI, he questions many of the director's choices from casting and costumes to the way that certain groups were depicted as violent aggressors. "There hasn't been a confirmed cyclops-related fatality in a hundred years, but now families might think twice about visiting Greece out of fear of their children being eaten by a giant monster during a hike up Mount Olympus."

Emily Wilson, a British-American classicist and translator who some believe may have been the inspiration for Homer's original take on the adventures of Odysseus after his victory at Troy, was especially harsh in her criticism of Nolan's film. "Like I wrote in the book My Day With Homer: Poet, Friend, Blabbermouth, there are only so many ways to adapt the ramblings of Iron Age Greek bards. Frankly, I would be embarrassed to have written even one word of that film, the negatives of which should be burned in a public ceremony, the ground upon which it was filmed salted and then walled off from the rest of the world, and viewers of it in IMAX 70mm damned with penal blinding using hot coals."