lucyllevanpelt
First of all Odyssey was NOT written by the Greek poet Homer (the one who wrote the Iliad, reproduced in the film Troy)). The structure and the style of the two poems is completely different (Odyssey is discontinuous and full of flash backs, while Iliad is sequential), and the two works are dated at least 50 years apart.Franco Rossi, the director of "Odyssey - TV series", was an "Italian comedy"-style director. However, the production of the series was managed by the great producer Dino De Laurentiis (e.g. Serpico, Dune, Blue Velvet, Hannibal, etc.). The co-financing and the actor cast was full European. Although designed as TV series, it was filmed as a movie, with color film (not electronic means), special effects (by the director Bava and the creator Rambaldi), and a lot of external shootings.The mix of ingredients has yielded a very good product, an optimal mix of action and acting, entertainment and prose, real story and fantasy, classicist and modernity, well filmed and with good photography and colors. Given the presence of many foreign actors, the original Italian version was entirely dubbed by domestic professional dubbers. This has further increased the value of the opera. I invite the readers to see it in their own language. The Canadian version is in English, but I don't know the quality of the recitation.
k-kapoor
I agree with all the comments above that this 8 part miniseries is the best, by far, among all Odysee TV/ Film material made so far. Story intensity, poetic representation, climax, all are second to none. Bekim Fehmu and Irene Papas excel in their lead roles.I noted above that it's English version is not available. Of course, no English DVD either, so far. But, I did see this series on TV, in English, more than once. One of those times being, when VHSs were available and I did record it and still treasure it (Except for one episode that I missed recording). I hope, it's DVD becomes available and I can have it on DVD instead. In the meanwhile, if anyone interested, I sure am willing to share those VHSs.
bebop63-1
Of all the versions of the Odyssey (or of any Greek mythological story for that matter), this in my opinion is the best of them all. Almost true to the original storyline - with some minor deviations and omissions, e.g. the absence of Scylla & Charybdis and the fact that Odysseus's fleet of ships is reduced to just one instead of the original 12- the realistic acting and authentic scenery and costumes all contribute to make this a truly memorable masterpiece, not just another sword-and-sandal Hollywood production B-flick. Notwithstanding the fact that the dialogue and subtitles are completely in Italian, if one is familiar with the storyline, he can still make heads and tails of what is going on and what the actors are saying (provided you have a good handy text of the Odyssey at hand). At least I did, and so much so that it has inspired me to study the Italian language to better appreciate the movie even more.
jallen-4
Although I have not seen this mini-series in over twenty years I can still remember how the balance between character,plot and tale of marvelous adventures succeeded. The use of special effects was restrained making a more poetic rather than literal telling of the story. The two versions I've seen were dubbed (English and French)but the actors appear to speak their own language not just Italian so there is a synchronization problem. It does not spoil the story telling. Among the cast Irene Pappas as Penelope is the most recognizable to North Americans. Recommended to all followers of Odysseus' ever returning.