AILSA CHANG, HOST: Millions of people went to see "The Odyssey" this past weekend, making it the biggest box office opening for a live-action film this year. Among those millions of people were many high school English teachers. The summer blockbuster made them eager to get back to the classroom because this ancient story of Odysseus and his 20-year journey back home to his wife and son is a subject that's often loved by teachers and hated by students. Well, this new film might change that. NPR's Sequoia Carrillo has this story.
SEQUOIA CARRILLO, BYLINE: Casey Crowhurst has taught high school English for the past 16 years, and one text has always been a bit of a challenge.
CASEY CROWHURST: "The Odyssey" was always one we kind of struggled with.
CARRILLO: Getting his students at Monticello High School in eastern Illinois to pay attention was a tall order.
CROWHURST: Because you tell them, hey, this was written 2,000-plus years ago, and right away, they're going to be like, well, why do I have to learn this?
CARRILLO: He's used clips from the 1997 Hallmark miniseries to help keep them engaged. In this scene, the Greek god Hermes floats around Odysseus as he hangs off the side of a cliff.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE ODYSSEY")
FREDERICK STUART: (As Hermes) Here, eat this.
ARMAND ASSANTE: (As Odysseus) No. That's moly. That's poison.
STUART: (As Hermes) I'm giving it to you - a god to a mortal.
CARRILLO: Crowhurst says his students find the dated special effects from the miniseries silly. So after he saw "The Odyssey," he posted his gratitude for the film's director on TikTok.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)
CROWHURST: I just saw "The Odyssey," and I want to say, on behalf of all English teachers, thank you, Christopher Nolan. Thank you.
CARRILLO: There are countless adaptations of Homer's epic poem, from "The Simpsons" to the stage, to other movies with big-name actors like George Clooney and now Matt Damon in the role of Odysseus, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE ODYSSEY")
ANNE HATHAWAY: (As Penelope) Promise me you will come back.
MATT DAMON: (As Odysseus) What if I can't?
CARRILLO: The new film stood out to Crowhurst for emphasizing something other versions haven't.
CROWHURST: No one's ever really taken "The Odyssey" from that perspective of what he calls Zeus' Law.
CARRILLO: Zeus' Law, or treating all people with hospitality and as equals, is a big theme of the movie.
CROWHURST: That point was made so perfectly in the film, and I was just in awe.
ERIN HALL: So I'm so excited this movie is coming out because I love including any kind of outside media in my classroom that I can 'cause it gets kids excited to learn.
CARRILLO: Erin Hall teaches English at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Some of her students are already excited to learn about "The Odyssey." Maybe they've read books like "Percy Jackson And The Olympians" that cover Greek mythology. But others take a little convincing.
HALL: So I use a bunch of stuff. I use cheesy movies. I use, you know, "Epic: The Musical." We look at paintings. So I am excited to have another thing in the toolbox to use.
CARRILLO: Sarah Noll teaches "The Odyssey" to a different group of students at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia - multilingual learners. This past year, most of her students were from Central America and Afghanistan, along with...
SARAH NOLL: I had a student from Pakistan, from China, from India. We have a fair number of Sudanese students. So it's definitely a linguistically diverse group.
CARRILLO: She says the epic is perfect for showing the foundations of storytelling. They don't study the original text. Instead, she shows clips of the miniseries and other adaptations and stretches it out over a few months.
NOLL: They create a kind of dictionary of the important vocabulary that they need.
CARRILLO: Things like ship, sea, king, suitor. She says the unit is one of her students' favorites.
NOLL: Ultimately, it's the story of Odysseus having to leave his home, his family, and head out into the world not knowing if he'll ever come home. It's a very powerful story.
CARRILLO: And for her students, many of them immigrants, it's something they see themselves in. Sequoia Carrillo, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ARE YOU READY TO LOVE ME?")
THE WAR AND TREATY: (Singing) Woo. Hold me, baby. Hold me close.
