Product: The Odyssey [VHS] (1997)
Rating: 4.0
Amazing Reproduction Of Homer's Epic
This review is for the video. There are two versions of the mini-series on DVD. As recently as three years ago it was not on region 1 for American viewers.Armand Assante is Odysseus. No offense to Sean Bean (A Great Actor In His Own Right), but I could not see him as Odysseus in the film Troy. How I wish they had again recast Assante (Assuming He Would Have Wanted To Reprise The Role). Assante carries this mini-series, and although 10 years older than Bean is (And A Little Heavier & More Muscular), he more than backs up the part of Odysseus.This mini-series concentrates very little on the events of the Trojan War itself. Instead it showcases Odysseus's long voyage home to Ithaca (For The war With Troy See: Troy & Helen Of Troy). Odysseus has insulted Poseidon, the God of the sea. As a result, his journey is wracked by journey and hardship. Along the way he encounters Cyclops and a beautiful witch that changes his men into animals. Odysseus overcomes these travails and in the depths of Hades, discovers the route home from Tiresius (Played Wonderfully By Christopher Lee), only to have his ship and crew destroyed by monsters and a steep waterfall.Saved by Calypso (Played By The Gorgeous Vanessa Williams), a beautiful nymph on the Island of Ogygia, Odysseus spends several years having blissful sex with her and her handmaidens. However, his captivity ends when Hermes, messenger of the Gods, tells Calypso Zeus orders her to send Odysseus home.Odysseus sets out on the sea in a makeshift raft, but again encounters the turbulent sea and a wrathful Poseidon. The scolding he receives from Poseidon shows Odysseus that he is indeed but a mortal. Odysseus now realizes how much in fact he needs the Gods. After his makeshift boat disentegrates on the choppy ocean, Poseidon lets Odysseus know who the Gods are and who the mortals are. Poseidon is the God while Odysseus is a mere mortal. This is a painful lesson he has to learn. The next day, half dead, he is washed ashore and by way of Phaecian traders, returned to Ithaca.Once in Ithaca, Athena puts a shroud disguise disguise over Odysseus, making him recognizable only to his son Telemachus and a trusty servant.Now at his homstead he sees those who would steal his land and wife from him. He tricks them into a large room and mercilessly slays them all. The mini-series ends shortly thereafter.Yes, I know there are big batches of the poem that are left out. Nevertheless, you must remember that they had to edit down the poem for broadcast in order for us to have a four hour mini-series. I had no problem with the format. I honestly liked this production because it held my interest throughout. It was better than Jason & the Argonauts of 2000.I liked the supporting cast members too. Christopher Lee, Eric Roberts, Greta Scacchi Bernadette Peters, Isabella Rosallini and Vanessa Williams were all inredible. The special effects were quite solid for a TV mini-series. I have no complaints from that realm. Unfortunately the bloodshed shocked me. I know it is based on the poem itself, yet I was still unnerved. This scene was unsettling to me. Odysseus showed no mercy to those who had been at the very least rude and crude in his household and at the very worst callous and cruel. "We did not kill anybody," (Eric Robert's Character Said). Indeed, their actions had been affirmed by the Ithaca Assembly. Was Odysseus right in slaying them all? I think not. No doubt some should have been condemned to the collar, but wholesale slaughter? Nien, no and nyet! He showed no mercy to those helpless men.I plan to buy this on DVD when I have the opportunity. This is revised from a 2/14/13 review I made and is the most updated. It is the 75th Four Star review and the 243rd overall review; overall I give the production a Four and a Half Star rating.A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.