Elemental Movies

Movies Reviews – Agora – 2000 Years Later and We Still Haven’t Learnt

Article by Lin.Kevin

Released in various countries throughout late 2009 and early 2010, ‘Agora’ is a biopic historical film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, better known for his 2001 film ‘The Others’ starring Nicole Kidman.

The ‘Agora’ incidentally, was a ‘gathering place’ or ‘place of assembly’ in Ancient Greek cities, a place where citizens could gather to hear rulers announcements.The Story

‘Agora’ is set in the city of Alexandria in 391 A.D., where the religious beliefs of pagans – those who still worship the many Egyptian gods – the Jews and the newly popular Christian religion frequently clash.

Whilst Christianity grows ever more powerful thanks to charismatic leadership and crowd-pleasing preaching, so too grows it’s hostility towards the pagans. At this moment in time, the Christians and Jews are relatively united given their shared belief in Jesus Christ, and so it is the believers in the ‘old’ gods who suffer the religious persecution at the hands of the zealous Christians.Amidst this atmosphere of religious turmoil is Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), a real-life historical philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and enlightened teacher, who guides her students thoughtfully through the theories of Ptolemy and Plato, educating them for their future roles as potential dignitaries of Alexandria at the Platonic School in Alexandria.

At her side are two men who love her – one is the high-born Orestes (Oscar Isaac), who can openly pursue Hypatia’s affections; the other is Davus (Max Minghella), Hypatia’s slave, who is secretly in love with his mistress but unable to announce his desire for her. Hypatia, however, is completely dedicated to her studies, in particular theories centering around astronomy and the workings of the solar system in a time where the heliocentric model was quickly dismissed by most scholars, and she has no time for romantic involvements of any kind, instead viewing her students with chaste sisterly love.Hypatia, an atheist in the film, would love nothing better than to be left in peace to continue her studies, but that is not to be, as her former students and slave Davus all choose their sides in what seems to be the start of a war between the Christians and Jews of Alexandria.

With Hypatia attracting criticism due to her friendship with her former student Orestes, now Prefect of Alexandria, alongside her lack of religious beliefs and controversial scientific theories, it’s clear that Hypatia will not be allowed to continue her studies in peace, not in a world filled with such religious fanaticism…My Opinion

From the offset, showing the Earth as seen from space before tumbling downwards into Egypt, ‘Agora’ is beautifully shot, with masterfully constructed, authentic looking CGI helping to create the ancient city of Alexandria. Technically, ‘Agora’ is an amazing achievement, with an array of aspects from costume design, set building, cinematography and computer generated wizardry all working together to create an historically accurate and entirely believable world for Hypatia and her contemporaries to live within.

Whether we are in the Museum Library of Alexandria, managed by Hypatia’s father and home to the scrolls and manuscripts of a thousand scholars past, or outside the city walls, watching the burning of the corpses of those recently massacred by the Christians, each scene feels authentic and is obviously well researched.From the radical Christian Cyril, who was later canonized to sainthood despite being the key factor in the violent expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria, to the protagonist Hypatia patiently trying to solve the mysteries of the motion of the stars, the characters are incredibly well acted and believable. Weisz excellently plays the philosopher Hypatia, infusing the character with the notion that learning and knowledge is to be desired above all other things. Moving through a range of emotions including detached serenity, enthusiasm over mathematical theories, extreme frustration and fear, Weisz portrays Hypatia very intelligently, and in a highly dignified manner.

I found Davus, played by Max Minghella, to be quite an irritating and ultimately cowardly character. As a slave, he is torn between his love for Hypatia, his mistress, and the chance for freedom which could be promised by siding with the Christians against her. Although very well acted by Minghella, who didn’t actually have many lines and therefore had to utilise other skills to push his character forward, I found I had very little sympathy for Davus’ situation. When many slave owners were cruel to their slaves, Hypatia and her family were exceptionally kind to theirs, allowing Davus to participate in her philosophy and science lessons at the Platonic School where Hypatia taught, and generally treating them with far more respect than their contemporary slave owners. You would have thought this would have encouraged more loyalty from Davus, but aside from some longing looks, he ultimately fails to reciprocate any useful kind of loyalty to his mistress.The religious fundamentalism from all religions featured in ‘Agora’ is portrayed with unflinching accuracy, with the Christians in general coming off as the worst of a bad bunch. Unwilling to co-habit and live in peace with other religions, the Christians instead demand the blood of all who refuse to bow to not only Christ, but the words of Cyril and Saint Peter, who put their own biased (and in Peter’s case in particular, misogynistic) spin on ‘the word of God’ to suit their own agendas.

One scene which stood out for me was the filming of the sacking of the library at Alexandria and the killing spree which followed; shot from high above and slightly sped up, we see the black robed Christian monks go about their business like tiny ants, milling around together, swarming around their kills before heading off in other directions in pursuit of more potential carrion.This is a long film with a running time of 2 hours, and at times I felt that there was opportunity to cut some of the very detailed scenes down a little. However, the pace of the film still remains generally very good, and even if it is a little slow in pace here and there, the quality of the acting, scenery and dialogue is all so good that this is very easily forgivable.

The soundtrack to ‘Agora’ was very subtly used, but once noticed, it worked to great effect and was enjoyable. Utilising a mix of classical, original orchestral pieces and beautiful choral melodies, along with wailing female vocals, scorewriter Dario Marianelli effectively gives us a sense of the time, ethnicity and geographical location that ‘Agora’ is set in.Although the film is beautifully made, and features a turbulent mix of religious hatred, persecution and power struggles amidst classical Greek philosophy, geometry and astronomy, I actually found myself feeling quite despondent after watching ‘Agora’. The persecution of different religions by each other is still going on – there might not be any (or at least as many) stonings in the street due solely to someone’s religious beliefs these days, but the hatred and bigotry continues. The petty squabbles over which saint said what, whether wine at Mass turns into Christ’s blood or remains as wine, who’s allowed to wail at which part of which wall, and other ultimately pointless debates still go on, and still drive men and women to kill each other. It depressed me to think that we haven’t learnt that much about living in peace over the past 2000 years.

I would definitely recommend watching ‘Agora’. It’s a superbly crafted film, with excellent cast performances, and even if it’s a tad too long, it is so thoughtfully put together that it really does deserve at least one viewing.Main Cast:

Rachel Weisz as Hypatia of AlexandriaMax Minghella as Davus, her slaveOscar Isaac as governor OrestesSami Samir as Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Bishop of AlexandriaManuel Cauchi as bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, uncle of CyrilAshraf Barhom as Ammonius, a Parabolani monkMichael Lonsdale as Theon of Alexandria, father of Hypatia and director of the Musaeum of AlexandriaRupert Evans as bishop Synesius of CyreneHomayoun Ershadi as Aspasius the old slave.

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