The Iliad, Starring Brad Pitt, Redux

Kim and I were chatting yesterday about The Iliad. Kim works where I work, at E&Y, as a researcher and industry analyst for the health care industry. She's one of those fearless readers who will take on something like The Iliad without flinching, even though she doesn't have a degree in literature. Kim said that she was enticed to read the epic after seeing the recent movie (which I missed out on, at least on the big screen). Apparently, a coterie of cognoscenti of the Homeric version hooted and howled through the entire movie, especially at scenes the director intended to be taken seriously. Kim's own review? A thumbs-down. Meanwhile, she's up to Book III, and already awash in body parts, epithets, and feckless gods.