Wednesday, December 04, 2024
The Return
This is the retelling of Homer’s Odyssey. Away for 20 years fighting in the Trojan War & having many adventures trying to navigate his way home, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca tired, weary, & unrecognizable. This warrior king finds out much has changed while he has been away. He is assumed to be just an old beggar man. His wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) has been held prisoner in her own home surrounded by greedy suitors demanding that she choose a new husband assuming Odysseus is now dead. Their son Telemachus is threaten with death as he is seen as an obstacle along the way to the throne. This is a dialog & emotions driven script of 3 lost souls hang on the that slender thread of hope. The battle-worn hero has been so lost on his trying journey home & plagued by the guilt of losing all of the good men who fought beside him. The wife has missed her husband for so long & has had to endure all of those disgusting men pressuring to choose a successor. The son is feeling abandonment by the father he never knew. It all comes down to that bow & arrow contest to pick the new king. Fiennes & Binoche give excellent performances. I️ have been fan of Greek mythology, the Iliad, & the Odyssey since childhood & from watching Kirk Douglas’ Ulysses.
Alien gives it 2½ “bow strength” stars out of 4.
