Photo Credit: Movie, Actually
Wars in the name of religion. Breakthroughs in science and astrology. Utter poverty amid rising opulent establishments. Sound like the world you live in today? How’s this for a shocker –that’s actually the world in Alexandria, Egypt 400AD. Serving as backdrop for Chilean-born Spanish auteur, Alejandro Amenábar’s latest time-defying epic, Agora is about the prosperity and decline of this civilization through the eyes of Hypatia, noted Greek mathematician, philosopher, and astronomer. This film, at first glance, might seem like the perfect History Channel feature presentation, but two things that set it apart from other epic films of this period are: 1.) Its rather experimental take on time and dimensions, and 2.) Hypatia, herself, the struggling heroine in a man’s world.
As ancient Egypt under Roman rule heightens with its advancements in the sciences and philosophy, an increasing faction of Christians spreads around much to the disapproval of the city’s leading scholars. Hypatia (excellently portrayed by Oscar-winning, British actress Rachel Weisz) is at the forefront of this surging new order as she struggles to keep the peace intact between both groups while devoting herself fully to teaching astrology to an all-male class. A daughter of Theon (Michael Lonsdale), the last director of the colossal Library of Alexandria, Hypatia’s passion for learning is accentuated by her acceptance and respect of Christians and the lower class, drawing the affection of two men –Orestes (Oscar Isaac), one of Hypatia’s more brazen and elite students, and Davus (Max Minghella), her young slave who keeps his conversion to Christianity a secret from her.
When a surprise attack upon a band of Christians ensues, the violence escalates when the Christians strike back, eventually driving out the pagans from Alexandria. Hypatia’s beloved library is razed and her father is terribly injured, and at this civil unrest, she finally loses her loyal slave, Davus, to the other side. The story continues on for the next remaining 15 years of Hypatia’s life and the radical transformations of Alexandria with the influx of Jews trying to overtake the city from the Christians. Several of Hypatia’s former students are now key figures in society, most especially Orestes, who has become the Imperial Prefect to the Roman Emperor. Davus is now part of a covert group of Nitrian monks, those pleading allegiance to the Patriarch Cyril. In the passage of time, the lives of the three characters continue to intertwine with the two men still pining for Hypatia’s love, something she has only bestowed upon her studies.
The film is not easy to take in its entirety, given the very complex nature of the story. It’s an immense departure from the usual spate in the Epic genre with its highly philosophical stance and the distinct storytelling method Amenábar uses. His prior film, Oscar-winning, The Sea Inside, was a very inter-personal story, whereas Agora spans more than a decade and takes us even outside the physical parameters of Earth into space.
Photo Credit: Cache Studio
The experimentation pays off wonderfully, making the audience feel this sense of wonder and befuddlement of who we are, where are we exactly, and what’s really out there, as Weisz’s Hypatia sought to answer her entire life. Oftentimes, the leap of dimension can be a bit jarring and even cause some confusion as to whether the film has ended or not. The film, though only two hours long, can feel as infinite as its topic, as this did not have much of the violence and fight scenes most epics would showcase. There is a feeling of claustrophobia, albeit the film’s sudden wide shot warps into the cosmos, that once you enter into Alexandria, there’s really no leaving it.
However, the experimentation in time and space still did not hinder Agora from becoming a very effective story with a clear message. The cast did an excellent job reliving the sensibilities of that period, and most surprising of all is the work by Max Minghella (son of the famed, late director Anthony Minghella) who portrays Davus with much finesse and emotion. The last time we saw Rachel Weisz in Egypt on the big screen, she was a whip-toting mummy exterminator alongside Brendan Fraser, but in Agora she turns the seriousness levels up 10 notches higher, taking us into a heart-rending journey of awakening and true faith. A four-year labor of love by writers Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil, it’s the kind of film that presents a history of the past, yet feels eerily as present as the world we live in today. Sixteen hundred years and thousands of civilizations later, we get to see, through Agora, how little the world has changed, if at all.
Limité Rating: 4/5
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Writers: Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil
Cast: Rachel Weisz, Max Minghella, Oscar Isaac, Ashraf Barhom, Michael Lonsdale, Rupert Evans, Sami Samir, Homayoun Ershadi
Genre: Epic
Runtime: 126 min.
Release Date: May 28, 2010
