Agora
- Director: Alejandro Amenábar
- Writer: Alejandro Amenábar; Mateo Gil
- Producer: Álvaro Augustín; Fernando Bovaira
CGiii Comment
It cost a fortune...and, it looks spectacular.
The Jews get it, the Pagans get it...it's all so anti-Christian...but, not anti-Christian enough!
With a fine central performance from Weisz and a powerful ending albeit totally fictional, Agora is ultimately let down by a weak script and too many inaccuracies.
Perhaps this far-reaching and deeply complex story would be best suited to being a mini-series.
It did win a multitude of awards...!
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Alexandria, 391 AD: Hypatia teaches astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Her student Orestes is in love with her, as is Davus, her personal slave. As the city's Christians, led by Ammonius and Cyril, gain political power, the institutions of learning may crumble along with the governance of slavery. Jump ahead 20 years: Orestes, the city's prefect, has an uneasy peace with Christians, led by Cyril. A group from the newly empowered Christians has now taken to enforce their cultural hegemony zealously; first they see the Jews as their obstacle, then nonbelievers. Hypatia has no interest in faith; she's concerned about the movement of celestial bodies and "the brotherhood of all". Although her former slave doesn't see it that way.
Cast & Characters
Rachel Weisz as Hypatia;
Max Minghella as Davus;
Oscar Isaac as Orestes;
Ashraf Barhom as Ammonius;
Michael Lonsdale as Theon;
Rupert Evans as Synesius;
Homayoun Ershadi as Aspasius;
Sami Samir as Cyril;
Richard Durden as Olympius;
Omar Mostafa as Isidorus