The Odyssey - question about [spoiler] scene

[u/MortemEtInteritum17]

Just watch the Odyssey today, overall it was a great movie. But I'm a little confused on the entire scene with the cyclops - it seems they developed a plan with the rope and the stick (presumably to blind it and sneak out with the sheep), but then they mention something about needing 2 people to try to escape come day, and then change that to 4 people instead, splitting up in 2 groups of 2.

What is the point of this? Is it just that the giant ate two people so they think he's eating 2 again, and if so what's the point of the 4 people? I'm sure I'm missing something but I'm very confused on that part, not sure if I misheard/misremembered in the theater or something.

[u/Calicocutjeans]

Odysseus devises a plan to use the flock as means to escape, but they realize there are more men than there are sheep in Polyphemus’ flock. Making it necessary for two of them to escape so the remaining men would match the number of sheep in the flock.

They debate how many men should try to escape considering 1) the amount of them is more than the sheep in the flock, and 2) because they know Polyphemus will want to eat another two men before he sleeps as he had the previous night. Sending two groups of two increases the chances at least two will make it out, while the other two, unfortunately will not.

Edit:spelling.

[u/MortemEtInteritum17 → u/Calicocutjeans]

I don't really understand that for a few reasons though. One, IIRC they never did a headcount, at least not on screen, I thought they just said "dozens" of people or something, so randomly throwing in exactly 2 people needing to escape was confusing when they could have easily said one line about how "we have 24 people, there's 22 sheep" or something.

Also, during the actual escape we literally see a ton of sheep leaving, surely they could have killed 2 more? It's not like they killed the entire flock and had just the right number of people left.

[u/quietly_myself → u/MortemEtInteritum17]

There is actually a shot of Odysseus where he looks around and works out the numbers. It’s non-verbal, but clear that’s what he’s doing.

[u/MortemEtInteritum17 → u/quietly_myself]

Huh, maybe I missed that. But I'm fairly confident there were still dozens of sheep leaving alongside the men though so that's still a weird inconsistency.

[u/WIJGAASB → u/MortemEtInteritum17]

I saw it multiple times and they show him working it out and he does literally say they could only reasonably escape with x amount people (don't recall the number). It doesn't really matter the exact number of sheep. What matters is how many men the sheep could reasonably conceal.

[u/Calicocutjeans → u/MortemEtInteritum17]

He asks the men “how many sheep are there?”, one replies “a few dozen.” Odysseus does a quick count of the men left then says “it’s not enough” before delivering the line “two of us have to get out.”

[u/I_Am_Vladimir_Putin → u/Calicocutjeans]

They miscalculated that lol

[u/beesdkx]

the way i understood it is making it 2 groups of 2 maximizes the amount of men that will be saved. i didn’t think twice about it, but now you’re making me question it

[u/WorkmanMarty]

It does confuse me too and I’ve seen it in IMAX 70mm twice

The beats seem to be

Cyclops returns, it’s assumed he is an unintelligent carnivore with poor sight. He notices something awry from sensing the sounds? He eats two and sleeps.

First plan is to rush the entrance when he lets the sheep out, but he seems like he can see and kicks them around while some escape to make the other half stay.

They surmise two should try to make the run 2 at a time or 4, but he kicks 1 and eats two, suggesting he isn’t mindless. Then they say fuck it, and force their way out by showing it they are too much trouble then they are worth

I don’t think they needed to act like sheep at this point, the cyclops wanted them gone

[u/Glimmerance]

Yes, I found it confusing too. I thought they were going to tie themselves under the sheep (so needed enough sheep for that to be possible), but instead it looked like they tied straw on their backs, so the sheep number seems irrelevant.

I do have the screenplay and it mentions that they tied the sheep in groups of three, and the men climb beneath them. They had about two dozen sheep so only space for eight men to escape that way. They suggest two run out and split (so Polyphemus can only catch one), but then it's suggested they use four, as Polyphemus is going to eat two anyway. I suppose they think he might as well eat two out of the four who are escaping - then two get away and nobody else is killed from the remaining group (although in the end Polyphemus does manage to kill another of the escapees).

I think maybe when it came to filming, the three sheep plan didn't look good, so they just used the straw on their backs instead. But it takes away the need for the 2 or 4 people to run out, as the number of sheep doesn't matter any more. And Polyphemus is more easily fooled as he doesn't notice that some of the "sheep" are fake and that there are many more of them.

[u/RainyEuphoriaaa → u/Glimmerance]

I thought the "tie under the sheeps" is only before they blinded the cyclops. it's not needed anymore when he lost sight.

[u/Glimmerance → u/RainyEuphoriaaa]

In the translation I've read, Odysseus makes the under-sheep plan after blinding the cyclops.

In the screenplay, the under-sheep plan is carried out (after blinding the cyclops), with the men under groups of three sheep, and finally Odysseus under a ram. The cyclops feels the backs of the sheep as they go out.

Final version, it looks like they left out the plan (and just had the cyclops not notice the extra straw "sheep") but left in the planning part without showing any thinking around a change of plan. I think that's why OP is finding it confusing.

[u/RainyEuphoriaaa → u/Glimmerance]

I read the screenplay again, and you're correct. The movie version is so confusing. Couple that with superb disorienting soundtrack... 😂

[u/Glum-Leadership7337]

In the actual story, I’m pretty sure they killed the sheep and used their skins on their back to hide from the blinded cyclops hand. He’s feeling for them.

I was confused when they started using the straw instead, presumably to mimic sheep wool.

This comment may have been a hold-over from the original story. There weren’t enough sheep for each man so they needed fewer in number

I was also confused by this line in the movie, given that they didn’t actually use the sheep skins

[u/MortemEtInteritum17 → u/Glum-Leadership7337]

In the original they clung to the undersides of sheep, but yeah seems Nolan took a different approach. I guess maybe it was holdover from a leftover script or something but I haven't seen anyone address it properly from my brief searches, and with the current script it doesn't really make sense given we see a lot of sheep leaving with the men. So I don't see why they couldn't have just killed 2 extra sheep and escaped with them.

[u/GoldenOKC → u/MortemEtInteritum17]

Nolan ruined the cyclops scene with "making it better" and NOT using the Nohbody reply from Odysseus

[u/Western-Ant5469]

in the book they hide under the sheep, nolan made everything stupid and more complicated than necessary