“Tell me about a complicated man."

The opening line of Emily Wilson's elegiac translation of the nearly three millennia-old Greek classic The Odyssey captures the heart of what defines Christopher Nolan's recurring fascination in his filmography: morally burdened protagonists and the monumental cost of their extraordinary choices.

His flawed Dark Knight, for example, weighs the burden of the consequence of hoping to save Gotham but loses Rachel in the process.

Cooper and Cobb, likewise, accomplish the impossible — the former saved humanity, and the latter escaped the labyrinth of the dream realm — yet not sans irreversible toll: both lose decades of separation from family.

Given Nolan's pull toward complex heroes, who, though, realize their goals but, in turn, become emotionally diminished due to the unintended aftermath of their defining choices.

Herein, adapting Homer's immortal epic has not only made sense for the Academy-winning director's body of work but also works as an ultimate culmination.

But what turns a blind Greek poet's protagonist into a guilt-ridden figure? His encounter with a one-eyed giant or meat-eating sea monsters?

Not exactly. His moral torment began long before them; to be precise, when his voyage to Troy was set to commence.

Troy: A death knell to Odysseus' morals

In contrast to other screen adaptations of the sacking of Troy as glory to the Greek military and particularly credited to Odysseus’ ingenuity, Nolan reframes it.

He underscores how the king of Ithaca is aware that the whole of Helen's abduction is largely a pretext for the power-hungry Mycenaean leader Agamemnon to stage a military campaign to raid the rich city of Ilium.

Thus, before sailing for Troy, Odysseus carries a blot on his conscience.

Yet, what upended his life was what he witnessed at the ransacking of the ancient city — Nolan's muscular direction viscerally strips........

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