· · ·
turning to page one
turning to page one
The Odyssey · written by Christopher Nolan · 2026
Scene 44 of 199 · ≈ 1 min on screen · Act two
Twenty years after leaving for the Trojan War, Odysseus fights his way home across a hostile sea only to find his kingdom overrun — and must return in disguise to reclaim his wife, his son, and his throne from the suitors laying siege to his house.
Ithaca frozen in a decade of waiting: Penelope weaving, the suitors feasting, Telemachus unheard.
Telemachus needs proof of his father's fate; Penelope needs the throne secured before the suitors force her hand.
Telemachus sails from Ithaca in secret, crossing into the unfamiliar world beyond his mother's house.
Odysseus's captivity with Calypso opens the parallel strand — a man who has forgotten his own family, slowly remembering his way home.
Inside the cave, the men find a hoard of cheese and a giant's fire — Eurylochus urges leaving, but Odysseus insists on honoring the stranger's hospitality rights.
At night, Odysseus talks Eurylochus out of killing the sleeping Cyclops, since only it can move the boulder sealing them in.
At dawn the Cyclops wakes, seals the cave, and crushes fleeing men underfoot as Odysseus orders a retreat back into the dark to save the trapped survivors.
This scene
Odysseus and his men are gathered by the fire.
POLITES
Could we jam something in the cave mouth to leave a gap?
ODYSSEUS
Maybe. But what?
Elpenor speaks up --
ELPENOR
This log?
Odysseus looks at the large log.
ODYSSEUS
It'll notice.
Odysseus gets up and looks closer at the log. It TAPERS.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
Grab the thin end. Put it in the fire.
His men start to work.
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
How much rope do we have?
Soldiers start UNWINDING ROPE from their waists... Odysseus counts his men...
ODYSSEUS (CONT'D)
How big's the flock?
ANTIPHATES
Two dozen, maybe?
ODYSSEUS
Not enough for all of us. When he comes back, two of us have to get out.
LAODAMAS
Or at least get killed.
Two soldiers step forward, CEPHEUS and ONE OTHER.
ODYSSEUS
Run low through the flock towards the entrance, then split wide --
POLITES
So he can only grab one of them.
Two more Soldiers (Elpenor and ONE OTHER) step forward.
ELPENOR
Four of us should make the run. Two and two.
POLITES
Why risk more men?
ELPENOR
He ate two of us last night...
MENETUS
He'll want another two before he sleeps...
ODYSSEUS
And we need him to sleep...