After 20 years away Odysseus (Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has finally returned home but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war. His beloved wife Penelope (Binoche) is now a prisoner in her own home, hounded by her many ambitious suitors to choose a new husband, a new king. Their son Telemachus (Plummer), who has grown up fatherless, is facing death at the hands of the suitors who see him as an obstacle in their relentless pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus has changed too. Scarred by his experience of war, he is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember. But he is forced to face his past in order to rediscover the strength needed to save his family and win back the love he has lost.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Our King Odysseus, the smartest of all the heroes.
00:06He led us for ten years in the Trojan War, before his brilliant plan to build the Great Horse.
00:13The Trojans thought it was a gift and took it behind their walls.
00:18Then, out poured our soldiers.
00:21Odysseus led us to victory.
00:25People love stories.
00:27You were there?
00:30I am Odysseus' wife.
00:32Odysseus is dead.
00:34Not to me.
00:35There is no king. He sailed to Troy years ago.
00:38Took the best men with him.
00:40All year, suitors have been turning up, waiting for his widow to choose a new husband to be king.
00:45Scoundrels. They're just here for your wealth.
00:49Look at this island. A wasteland.
00:52Gangs of thugs terrifying the people.
00:55They need me alive, at least until I choose my husband.
01:00Mother, we can't live with those savages anymore.
01:03I will choose soon, when I finish my wedding cloak.
01:07No one's making a fool of you, of us all.
01:12I know who you are.
01:14A tramp.
01:16If I were free, I'd fight for what was mine. I'd fight for my people.
01:22All the people say when they see I have returned alone, that I led all their men to their deaths.
01:28This land is ruined.
01:31I sacrificed it for him.
01:35I have a proposal for you.
01:37A hunting party.
01:39Where is he?
01:42Who are you?
01:44Your waiting is over.
01:47The one amongst you who can string the bow and shoot the arrow through the axes, that man will be my husband.
01:57Close the gate.
01:59How can men find a war but not find their way home?
02:03Some war becomes home.
02:08Give the man the bow.
02:17THE END