c ⋆

📸: ian bush

I went into the movie expecting Athena to be Odysseus's conscience and guide, and that annoyed me. As a mythical figure, Athena is cruel to innocents and hungry for validation from powerful men — that's always repulsed me. She is the last person who should be anyone’s conscience. So a part of me braced for the movie to sand down that complicated-ness. Instead, Nolan's choice and Zendaya's performance moved me profoundly.

*Major spoiler ahead — don't read until you've seen the movie.*

Athena comes to Odysseus in human form, acting as guide and encourager for the first two acts. Then, late in the third act, as Odysseus recounts the sacking of Troy, we learn whose body she's been wearing: a young woman from Troy, massacred in front of him.

On first watch, I gasped and my heart broke. On second watch, I started weeping the moment the third act began. It's an enormously powerful way to indict both Odysseus AND Athena for the unspeakable acts of war that they both played a major role in.

This is just fucking brilliant. I'm in awe.