Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Underlining the senselessness of war
Odysseus’s homecoming myth is treated as a factual story, with strong resonances for our contemporary world. This is an implicit anti-war film that has an urgent relevance, writes JOHN GREEN
TOUR DE FORCE: for Ralph Fiennes as Odysseus [IMDb]

The Return
Directed by Uberto Pasolini
★★★★

STARRING Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, The Return retells the story of Odysseus’s homecoming 20 years after waging war against the Trojans.

Based on Homer’s mythological tale, it has been adapted by Edward Bond, John Collee and Uberto Pasolini, who also directs.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
myth framework
Opinion / 21 August 2026
21 August 2026

Before Greek myths reached the multiplex, they were weapons of political satire. CALLUM SMITH explores the evidence

odyssey
Opinion / 24 July 2026
24 July 2026

The Odyssey is a tale of evasions and half-truths; this reflects the effects of traumatic ‘moral injury’ common to war veterans, suggests STEPHAN BLUM

Matt Damon as Odysseus / pic: IMDB
Film of the Week / 16 July 2026
16 July 2026

 MARIA DUARTE admires the scale of Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of Homer

round up
Cinema / 2 July 2026
2 July 2026

MARIA DUARTE, JAMES WALSH and ANDY HEDGECOCK review The Invite, My Father’s Island, Nirvanna: the Band, the Show, the Movie, and Oh My Goodness!