I actually really liked how Nolan introduced the concept of Xenia within the movie and ultimately how he tied that into the Trojan War.
Like yes it’s been around for 3000 years that Paris broke the rules of xenia when he kidnapped Helen, but I love how Nolan also spun that on Odysseus with his Trojan Horse as well. Odysseus broke the rules, and with that he introduced a new standard of warfare and social interaction. He tied into the Sea Peoples which I thought was really interesting.
Zeus’s Law is broken within Ithaca’s palace and it is broke in Troy, and it is broken in Sparta, and everyone gets their comeuppance.
I actually really loved how they handled Odysseus PTSD within Troy itself and I think Nolan did it that way because of Emily Wilson’s introduction. I finished her translation of the Odyssey the night before I saw the movie and I was incredibly interested in how she wrote about the violence of war and how it was societally viewed. There were standards set in place even in its brutality, like with how they had temporary truces, one on one battles, and time to collect the dead. Brutality is accepted, but what does that actually do to a mind?
And within her translation, Odysseus is a shell of a man at times. He cries every night, he’s known as lamentful and sorrowful. There is a line when he first meets Telemachus for the first time, and he states something along the lines that he is the cause of all his sorrow. He blames himself for so much, and of course he would take the burden of Troy upon himself as well.
It’s more of a modern interpretation but I think he would be haunted by Troy. He’s haunted by the innocents that died, and the people that wear their faces. And I think that although they didn’t include the story of Astyanax, the Athena reveal was insanely well done and served its purpose.
The movie makes a point to show that dishonor spreads when you stop following the rules of hospitality and the rules of honor. It’s Paris, it’s Agamemnon, it’s Odysseus, it’s Eurylochus, it’s the rest of his men, and it’s Ithica’s men as well. It all just spreads when you introduce something new and something cruel into the game.
The Troy sequences were arguably the best of the movie and it was just insane to watch in IMAX
