Hypatia was a mathematician and philosopher who lived in Egypt between 350/370 and 415. She was a brilliant teacher, whose class was open to any student regardless of social strata. Hypatia was particularly intrigued by the "wanderers" the movement of the stars and Earth and our juxtaposition with the sun. Hypatia's students went on to many high ranking positions in Alexandria.
Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) was murdered by Christians around 415 due to a dispute between one of her former pupils, Orestes (Oscar Isaac) the Imperial Roman Prefect and St. Cyril (Sami Samir). The murder was particularly gruesome and was the product of a local political conflict between the two leaders. The act was an attempt to reconcile the two Christian leaders. This political act has been painted with a broader brush in the film Agora, which seems to try and link the act with the broader issue of science vs. religion. Two issues that are not necessarily opposed.
The film introduces Hypatia as a patient, caring tutor who treats all of her students as equals. Her slave Davus (Max Mingella) is treated as an equal with the other pedigreed students. The students practically worship their teacher. Her influence stretches across decades as her pupils advance to ranking positions in government and the church. Hypatia's own atheistic views are secondary to the intellectual bond she shares with her pupils. The events transpire during a turbulent time in Alexandria, where the spread of Christianity first pits Christians against Pagans, followed by tension between Christians and Jews.
While Agora examines the political aspects surrounding the tension between Oreste and Cyril, it seems intent on making the issue more about science vs. religion. In fact, the film attributes Hypatia as having discovered the elliptical nature of Earth's orbit many centuries before it was actually documented. This would be fine if it were true. But we are to believe that this discovery was laid silent due to Hypatia's murder, making the issue more about religion than politics. That is not the only place that this film takes excessive liberties with the truth.
The Christians are also "blamed" in this film for destroying centuries of collected knowledge when they torch the Alexandria Library. According to historians, those books had been plundered long before the Christians took control of the location. Yes, they destroyed artifacts, but they did not destroy the books. This seemed to me to be another attempt to paint Christians as barbaric ignorants with no respect for knowledge. If it were true, then the portrayal would be fair, but it was not true. So the motivations throughout this film are slanted. It is a bit ironic that Synesius is portrayed as a critic of Hypatia when, in reality, his writings about Hypatia are the only surviving record of her from that era.
My biggest issue with Agora is that it didn't seem to know where it wanted to go. It strained to include actual events, such as Hypatia giving her used menstrual cloth to a potential suitor. But the individual events were pulled together into a story that just wasn't gripping. We see Hypatia struggling with her desire to understand the movement of the planets, we witness the advancement of her students, but there is no coherence in the story. The character motivations are never fully explored, and their actions often seem contradictory. The film did not follow a natural progression, leaving many events unexplained. It felt like it would be a love story, but that never panned out either. Agora simply did not know what it was trying to be.
The scenery in Agora was the film's most impressive quality. The recreation of ancient Egypt provided nice eye candy. It was aesthetically pleasing, creating a beautiful illusion. Unfortunately, the story wasn't powerful, the characters were conflicted and forgettable and the acting was mediocre. Weisz was okay, but the rest of the cast members seemed flat to me. It may have been more an issue of the character development in the writing, but I didn't buy the other characters.
Agora received an R rating from the MPAA for violence and nudity. The nudity was contextual, brief and not of a sexual nature. The violence was prevalent throughout the film and included numerous fights and slayings. The violence was not particularly gory, just frequent. If this film were more engaging, I would recommend it for audiences at least in their teens. As it is, I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone. Agora has an excessive two hour, seven minute run time. It could have been shortened without losing any impact.
Agora takes the story of an important ancient thinker and reduces it to a debate between science and religion. The attempt to paint Christians as opposed to science is most notable in the perpetual lie about Christians embracing a flat-Earth belief in the middle ages. This misconception (lie) was created by Antoine-Jean Latronne and Washington Irving in the early Nineteenth Century. This sort of misinformation is seized upon by people opposed to Christianity as "proof" of ignorance. The ignorant person is the one who accepts the untrue version without verification, to point out the ignorance of the other. It is sad that Agora chose to toe the line between these two points of view. It ended in a muddled mess. With a clearer vision and better acting, the film could have been enjoyable. As it is, my recommendation is to find something better. 4.5/10.
Photos and trailer property of Mod Producciones.
Many issues here, and haven't (yet) seen the film. That period was not so much a science-v-religion contest but one of Christianity versus Neoplatonism. The exchanges between Hellenic philosophers and so-called Church Fathers are illuminating, though sadly we have a largely one-sided view of them. If anything, it is a faith v philosophy contest - we know who won, though the huge irony is how much neoplatonist thought survived with a christian flavouring.
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That is where this film went astray. Had it concentrated on those aspects, it would have been a much better film. The Bishop actually defended Hypatia in real life. And she was, as you mention, neoplatonist not atheist. She actually found value in Christianity as much as her other influences.
Interestingly, one of the early church scholars who preserved the churches reverence for her knowledge was socrates scholastica. I have already drafted a post for Easter that quotes him on the whole revisionist "Easter is a pagan holiday" lie that gets spread this time of year.
I guess we'll never know the truth about what really happened to the Alexandria Library, or who destroyed it, or what treasures were hidden in its scrolls. It's so frustrating to think about it.
As for the movie, it was OK as far as movies go, but to expect any historical truth from it would be unwise, i guess. History has been rewritten multiple times and it always, ALWAYS lies!