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TL;DR: The iconic desert landscapes from the movie belong to Western Sahara which is under Moroccan occupation. The indigenous population, Sahrawis, are marginalised by the Moroccan regime, who arrest natives for filming their own land while giving complete permission and assistance to Western film producers to shoot their scenes.

I highly recommend reading the article as it's written by one of the locals themselves.

Why YSK: Seeing how The Odyssey has amassed popularity globally, it is important to know how the illegal occupation of the Western Sahara and the suffering of the inhabitants was swept under the rug in order to produce this film, especially since no other major media outlet wishes to cover this topic.

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[-] A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip 92 points 1 week ago

Western Sahara.

Another story of postcolonial greed. Fight for resources, fuck the people (and call them terrorists when they fight for their own land).

Once saw a docu on that, it's horrifying, not least because so few people are aware.

Please also be aware that when you buy produce from Morocco, esp. tomatoes iirc, it's likely to be grown in Western Sahara in a very exploitative way.

Thanks for making it a YSK (but imho Western Sahara should be in the title).

[-] orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 47 points 1 week ago
[-] frank@sopuli.xyz 14 points 1 week ago

Damn this is crazy. I had no idea Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara was so brutal

[-] Malyca@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago

I didn't either it's horrible

[-] AverageEarthling@feddit.online 38 points 1 week ago

so you're saying I shouldn't PAY to watch this movie... wouldn't want to give my hard earned money to anyone taking advantage of such a situation.

[-] FudgyMcTubbs@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

The movie was good enough to dull existence for the nearly 3 hour runtime. That said, I will probably never choose to watch it again. So there's Fudgy's review.

[-] dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

That twist in the middle with John Odyssey was cool tho

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I hear his secret evil twin brother Billy Odyssey ran away with the secret fifth element, Heart, in the (secret) third act

[-] enchantedgoldapple@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 week ago

I wish I knew about this fact before I went to watch the film

[-] gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago

Meanwhile if any of these people try to escape this oppression by migrating anywhere they'll get treated like terrorists

[-] Chick0nPlayz@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

They filmed in Western Sahara? đź’€ Discussion should've been focused on that instead of the races of the actors

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 week ago

Discussion should’ve been focused on that instead of the races of the actors

One would hope.

Remember when the hillbillies got all bothered over a non-white ariel in the new Littlest Mermaid? The troll engines are whipping up a new outraged mob.

[-] MML@sh.itjust.works 13 points 1 week ago

That's messed up and all but I don't think this is holding back the booming Western Saharan movie industry.

[-] ParadoxSeahorse@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

See also: Dobby’s grave

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

it’s written by one of the [local indigenes] themselves.

I suspect the reporting will be completely without bias or agenda, "Reporting the news, not being the news"

[-] jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 week ago

It's a movie about war, is it not?

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

It’s a movie about war, is it not?

When I read the book, it was about a journey home. It's actually in the title; or really it is the title. Did we learn the word 'odyssey' in one of those high-falutin' book-learnin' elementary schools?

[-] birdwing@lemmy.blahaj.zone -4 points 1 week ago

Also terribly inaccurate. Clytemnestra was slay though

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

terribly inaccurate

The written story was from a single quoted source, third-hand before it was on paper.

What's your expectation here? Our news reports land claims in court based on "we tell stories of how this was ours always, and we don't know who, how or why people were living here before us or died out so suddenly and brutally when our ancestors arrived." Accuracy isn't required for court, so it's maybe okay for stories.

this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
415 points (94.8% liked)

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