Agora (2009)
Genre: History / Drama
Duration: 127 minuten
Country:
Spain / Malta / Bulgaria
Directed by: Alejandro Amenábar
Stars: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac
IMDb score:
7,1 (75.902)
Releasedate: 17 May 2009
Agora plot
"Alexandria, Egypt. 391 A.D. The World Changed Forever."
It is the 4th century AD that Egypt is part of the Roman Empire. When a violent religious uprising erupts in the streets of Alexandria, the fight shifts to the legendary library. Within the walls of this building, scientist Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) fights with her students to preserve the wisdom of the ancient civilization. Her young slave Davus is torn between his secret love for his mistress and freedom. If he wants to gain freedom, he sides with the enemy...the Christians.
Actors and actresses
Hypatia
Davus
Orestes
Ammonius
Theon
Synesius
Aspasius
Cyril
Olympius
Isidorus
Reviews & comments
Flat Eric
-
- 6443 messages
- 1026 votes
Religion is the source of all evil.
...or at least it seems that way sometimes. A topical subject in another era provides a penetrating reality about fanaticism.
Anyway, this film is of course about the life story of philosopher Hypatia.
Every now and then I have to refresh my Greek/Roman antiquity knowledge.
With this film I imagined myself completely in the 4th century AD. A captivating and beautifully presented story. No bombastic violence but nicely dosed.
Very nice.
Translated from Dutch · View original
baspls
-
- 4118 messages
- 1673 votes
Visually strong film. The creators have made good use of visual language to get their message across. In doing so, however, they draw a very anachronistic picture of the time and I also find it doubtful what kind of visual means are used. The Gentiles are all white learned cosmopolitans and the Christians and Jews are portrayed as stereotypical inhabitants of the Middle East. The way the Christians are portrayed is literally based on what terrorists look like (Scimitars and black turbans). The reactions to the film make it clear how dangerous such representations are. After all, it provokes very negative reactions towards religion and in particular Christianity. In addition, it confirms the idea that fundamentalists only come out of 'the big sandbox' and are clearly distinguishable by their appearance.
It should be clear that Agora is not actually a film about Antiquity, but has 9/11 as its direct cause. The story of Hypatia (who, despite her intellectual achievements, has not mowed the grass at the feet of Copernicus, Newton and Einstein as the film claims) is only used for that purpose. Amenábar makes his critique of fundamentalism very clear, ironically enough that he goes so far as to make the film a classic example of Enlightenment fundamentalism and anachronistic ideas about Greco-Roman superiority.
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