By Rob Eschmann

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey  features an unexpected twist in perspective, reframing the legendary Trojan Horse as a war crime that contributed to the fall of Greek civilization. This creative decision makes the 2,700-year-old epic more relevant than it has ever been, speaking directly to some of the most pressing issues of our time.

The film highlights the deep connection between Greek culture and “Zeus’ law,” which demands that people show hospitality towards strangers, any of whom could be gods in disguise. When the hero Odysseus, played by the always impressive Matt Damon, invented the Trojan Horse, he made a mockery of Zeus’ law by using a gift offered under a banner of peace, a gift offered to the goddess Athena, to burn Troy to the ground and enable the massacre of countless civilians.

Throughout the film, Greeks are fearful of attacks from the mysterious “people from the sea,” thought to be outsiders and barbarians that threaten to destroy Greece. Later we learn that the people of the sea are just Greeks who have shunned “Zeus’ law.”