Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro lauded Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” as a “masterpiece” in a video review of the film, which hit theaters on Friday.
That same day, Shapiro posted an 18-minute video on YouTube to proclaim, “Nolan is unparalleled. He’s the best director working today, without a doubt. He just creates iconic movie after iconic movie.”
Although Shapiro said it doesn’t 100-percent stick to the characterizations of Odysseus and “The Odyssey” by Robert Fagles, he rated it between an 8.5 and a 9. “I mean, the movie is a masterpiece,” he declared.
Shapiro also hit back at the complaints about Lupita Nyong’o playing Helen of Troy. “Here’s the thing: Actually, in the script, Nolan goes out of his way to explain that the war wasn’t really launched over Helen being gorgeous,” he pointed out.
However, he agreed that Elliot Page’s casting as Sinon was an “absolute puzzler.” Shapiro misgendered Page, whose pronouns are he/him, as well as they/them, in his critique, explaining, “She is about 5’2 and 105 pounds soaking wet and has the voice of a woman. It doesn’t work.”
“I think there’s a message here for conservatives,” Shapiro acknowledged toward the end of his review. “I know, there are a lot of conservatives who are getting pre-whipped up about the film. Because it is stupid to cast Elliot Page as a dude. It’s just stupid. But people on the right were saying ‘Oh, the movie’s gonna bomb because of that.’ No, the movie’s not going to bomb because of that.”
He added, “It turns out that when people want to be entertained, they are willing to entertain even bad flaws in the tooth, if the smile is nice. It turns out the people are willing to undergo some bad politics and some decision making if the film is great.”
Shapiro’s parting words of advice: “If conservatives want to be effective in the culture, you can’t just label the entire piece of art ‘bad’ because a decision in the art is bad.”
