Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is more about how The Trojan War was the end of an age of enlightenment and good will between peoples. This is honestly something that cuts deep right now seeing how our own age of free and safe trade, travel, and negotiation is ending. It doesn't have to be historically accurate or even accurate to the legend.
*spoilers ahead!*
A lot of people here on Tumblr are hyper fixated on some very silly things about Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey. Especially things like Odysseus not telling Polyphemus he was "Nobody" or how Menelaus made a crude comment to Hellen when he's meant to be "a wife guy". I find these criticisms very hollow given the actual themes of the film and the legend itself.
This films is meant to be about Odysseus regrets for his Trojan horse and the horrors he saw as a result. This is actually an important part of the legend. The crimes done to the people of Troy. How warriors on either side are not innocent, and must accept what they've done if they are to make amends.
This theme carries through the film. Circe turns Odysseus's men into pigs in part because she feared what a group of armed men might do to her, and Odysseus letting her live because he understands that. The constant mentions of Zeus' law of hospitality and The Sea People who do not respect it are also a part of that. These themes clearly parallel the way the modern West (The US and Europe) has refused to respect our own international laws.
The legends of ancient Greece (really everywhere) were told and retold to reflect the issues and values of the people telling them at the time. We will never even know the original oral tradition as it is almost certainly vastly different from the one we have written down. This one tells of our own coming dark age well. We (that is the US) broke Zeus' law of hospitality and so the world will likely pay for our mistake. However, we don't have to lose hope going into a darker world. We can still light a fire and honor those we could not bury.















