i watched christopher nolan’s the odyssey yesterday thinking, yay, new nolan film! let me go see it on the big screen as it was intended, as i haven’t been to the cinema in a while. and yes, it was an entertaining, epic film. during the film, i was wondering where it was shot. and lo and behold, i come across this article: odyssey to africa’s last colony. i would encourage everyone to read it.

the film was shot on the beaches of western sahara, in the occupied city of dakhla. western sahara is considered africa’s last colony, an area occupied by morocco. christopher nolan and his team took advantage of generous subsidies from the moroccan state. as the article puts it, “they lent legitimacy to its illegal occupation regime.” western sahara is considered a non-self-governing territory by the united nations, meaning that the sahrawi people, native to the land, are yet to exercise their unalienable right to self-determination, as it’s recognised by international law. this obviously begs the question, why did christopher nolan, the studio and his team chose to film there? while he’s yet to be questioned publicly about this, my guess is that it’s about money. as mentioned, morocco offered subsidies that enabled them to film without the consent of the people who actually live there, which shows a very colonial, western attitude that should be challenged. in an article by the sahara press service, it’s stated that “while the moroccan occupation authorities granted privileged access and special facilities to one of the world’s largest film productions to operate in occupied dakhla, they continue to deny entry to international journalists, human rights observers, lawyers and parliamentary delegations seeking to document the reality of the occupation and assess the human rights situation.” journalists have continue to face surveillance, intimidation, arbitrary detention and confiscation of equipment as they protest human rights violations in the region. not only this, but it’s considered illegal under the morrocan occupation for the sahrawi people to document their lives under the oppressive regime. they can’t film in their own home, but massive hollywood film studios are allowed to. this is another example of voices representing the oppressed being silenced in the name of money and entertainment, and is basically colonialism in action.

reading and learning about this has left a sour taste, and i regret spending money to support a colonial project. i would encourage people to reconsider supporting and watching this film, or at the very least finding alternative ways to watch that doesn’t contribute to the continued oppression, displacement and silencing of the the sahrawi people.

further reading:

eoghan gilmartin – filmed in western sahara, the odyssey endorses colonialism – https://jacobin.com/2026/07/nolan-odyssey-western-sahara-morocco-colonialism

bir lehlou (sahrawi republic) – sahrawi working group: filming “the odyssey” in occupied dakhla whitewashes morocco’s occupation and violates international law in western sahara – https://www.spsrasd.info/en/2026/07/18/16814.html

artlust – the odyssey was the opposite of colonization – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PtPkyEdfBQ

mohamed sleiman labat – christopher nolan’s odyssey used occupied land as a film set. that feels like a betrayal https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/jul/16/the-odyssey-sahrawi-people-christopher-nolan-western-sahara