a SIFF 2010 review
Beautiful Agora a Thought-Provoking Epic
Alexandria, Egypt. 391 A.D. The philosopher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) is obsessed with solving the riddles of the cosmos, most notably the traveling of the celestial bodies and the determination of whether the sun revolves around the Earth or if the opposite is in fact true. Additionally she does her best to teach her pupils with caring and compassion, trying to give them insight into the brotherhood of men even as the growing religious intolerances coursing through her country threaten to tear them all apart.
Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella in Agora © Newmarket Films
Thus begins a massive triangle as two men, the former student and current Prefect of Alexandria Orestes (Oscar Isaac) and the pardoned slave and devote Christian soldier Davus (Max Minghella), via for Hypatia’s affections even though both know they shall never have them. For she is the city’s most renowned, and in many corners despised, atheist, and those seeking power know they must turn the masses against her if they ever wish to rule.
For all its massive scope, the message Agora chooses to deliver is in the end a relatively simple one. It looks at religion with a remarkably cynical eye, going out of its way to showcase how intolerance can lead to unimaginable bloodshed and persecution is almost always the precursor to a civilizations downfall. Even though it is set centuries in the past director Alejandro Amenábar’s (The Sea Inside, The Others) focus is on the here and now, the parallels – as heavy-handed as they sometimes might be – positively undeniable.
This will not be for everyone. Amenábar and Mateo Gil’s (The Method) original screenplay may be rooted in historical fact but their purpose, or at least what I see as their purpose, is to showcase the evils lurking at the heart of organized religion. Pagans do harm to Christians and Christian in turn massacre many of them without mercy. Christians stone the Jews who in turn do the same to them leading to a number of deaths for which the Christians retaliate with frenzied ferocity. It’s a cycle of deranged depravity all done in the name of God, Gods and Goddesses, everyone certain in their beliefs and just as certain in their right to show no mercy to those who do not believe the same.
With that being the case it is no wonder this $65-million production has found so much trouble garnering a release here in the United States. After making its premier at 2009’s Cannes Film Festival no domestic distributor would touch it, and it is only over one year later that Newmarket has decided to roll the dice and give the picture a limited release before shuffling it off to DVD and Blu-ray.
Pity, because discerning audiences with an ability to not let their religious predilections – whatever they may be – get in their way of recognizing quality filmmaking eager to start intelligent debate will find lots to revel in here. Amenábar gives his principal characters dimensions and nuance. There is little in the way of black and white here, little that is cut and dry, and while I do think a case can be made that the director has a definite point of view the fact he lets viewers ultimately decide things for themselves speaks volumes.
That does not mean I find Agora to be a masterpiece. Far from it. As strong as I think Hypatia, Orestes and Davus are as characters I think some of the supporting players could have used a bit more nuance and shading, particularly the Christian head of Alexandria Ammonius (Ashraf Barhom). He is presented as something of a religious mongrel, a monstrous madman almost frothing at the mouth to obtain power and reduce the remaining non-believing rabble into powder. As great as the central triangle and the resulting discussion it provokes is the one driving the narrative is nothing more than a didactic stock villain, and the more Amenábar turned his direction towards him the less interested I became.
It also does not help that anyone with even an ounce of historical knowledge knows how all this will end. Hypatia’s life was a tragic one clouded in mystery with little known about the scholar other than she was one of the Library of Alexandria’s most renowned figures. But in the face of such intolerance it goes without saying that an atheist, a female atheist for that matter, is not going to get very far unscathed making the fact things are moving towards a relatively forgone conclusion a wee bit anticlimactic.
But the film looks incredible, every dollar so well spent the images themselves pop right off the screen. Guy Dyas’ (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) production design is stunning, while the team responsible for the art and set decorations deserve kudos beyond any I could ever give them. I found Dario Marianelli’s (Everybody’s Fine) score to be superb, the Oscar winner’s themes a strong addition accentuating each and every scene.
As for Weisz I for one think she is every bit as good here as she was in her Academy Award-winning turn in The Constant Gardener. She ground Hypatia, makes her live and breath in a way that held me enchanted. I was fascinated with the woman, was eager to see what choices she would make and what discoveries she might be able to uncover. But it is in her final moments that she truly blew me away, the look of horror makes with gratitude she shares with Minghella one that couldn’t help but bring tears flooding to my eyes.
There is a place for films like Agora. There is also an audience for them. I just wish that place was a bit more publicized and that audience was lot larger than it currently appears to be. Amenábar has constructed a motion picture that makes people think, forces them to assess not only their own beliefs but much of the turmoil currently shaking the foundations of our world today. It is a very good movie deserving of respect and appreciation, the fact I may be one of the few to give it such a thing that can’t help but make me more than a little bit sad.
Film Rating: ęęę (out of 4)
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