Agora

I really think I must have watched a different movie than some of the other reviewers here. Am I the only one that found themselves laughing out loud at some of the scenes which reminded me so much of "The Life Of Brian" it was uncanny. The stonings had me shouting "Jehovah" from my armchair LOL. Agora tries its hardest to take itself seriously, but the whole thing is a shambles. Hammy acting, awful lines, and daft scenarios. As an Atheist I really wanted to see something that pushed the absurdity of religion across, along with the struggle science has had to make down the ages to get by religious fundamentalism. I never really saw that point being made. Yes, we get a repeated mention of proving a heliocentric solar system, and we get to chuckle at the Jews fighting the crazy Christians, (along with people running around the streets stabbing each other - lol again) but apart from that, this junk deserves a straight to DVD filing. Best way to watch it? Have a beer and take it as a comedy (of epic proportions). Next!

I won't include any spoilers in this review... I entered this movie thinking i'll see some epic war, or some romance story, or maybe scientific breakthroughs... or hell a documentary maybe...? It is true that there was a myriad number of things to expect, but i didn't expect it to be all of these at once. The movies problem is not in lack of content, on the contrary, there is just so much going on, there is no focus or general direction to be seen anywhere. There is no general direction for the story itself; in the middle of the movie you're going to be wondering okay what are we concentrating on here...? Here is the way i see it; twists are nice, but total clue-lessness is not. The director is trying to do too much in one movie. He tries to talk about handful of characters at once with way too much detail about each. I would've rather had a movie that talks about one of these characters with much more focus. The acting, however, was pretty good. Rachel Weisz and a handful of actors provided us with an admirable performance that was nice to watch. The environments and depictions of 4th century Egypt were stunning. Not a waste of money, but nothing memorable either.. I've seen better.

Saw Agora at Cannes and it didn't do it for me. The movie is at least 45 minutes too long, and i'm afraid that what should be edited out are most of the scenes with Rachel Weisz trying to solve the mysteries of astronomy and it was very contrived. It's all the more unfortunate that Weisz is a good actress, she just isn't believable as Hypatia. The movie revolves around her (no pun intended) but we couldn't care less. It's typically a one-dimensional female role written by 2 men, who otherwise wrote some very interesting male roles (especially Davus & Orestes). Her character doesn't evolve at all. This is unfortunate as the religious battles in Alexandria is a fascinating topic, but it seems to me that Amenabar'a talent got drowned in a sea of sand and a big budget, and that he left the keys in his DP's hands. I'm not sure if this could be salvaged in the editing room, but as it is, i just don't see this movie find a public.

This is arguably the best film of 2009, depending on whether or not you understand the filmmaker's perspective. I believe, in some ways, full appreciation of this film can only be achieved if you have watched a completely unrelated work: "Cosmos", by Carl Sagan. Both the Library of Alexandria and Hypatia were terms that constantly came up in Cosmos; and although it is unclear if Sagan had any influence in the making of this film, it really embodied Sagan's philosophy. For example, there are a lot of aerial shots, looking at the Earth from afar - often during dramatic scenes of either love or violence that shows both how insignificant and how precious the human existence is. In spite of all our wars and hate and differences, we are all being carried on this lone blue vessel, journeying through the vast emptiness of space. Are we really that different? Or do more things unite us than divide us, like Hypatia says? In a moment of sheer ignorance, men can destroy their own proudest and most beautiful achievements and erase all of their accumulated knowledge. It's happened before, and it could happen again. This film delivered this message with beautiful precision - are we naive, like Orestes of Alexandria, to think we have finally changed? Or should we look at ourselves in the mirror and know that we still have a long road ahead to better ourselves? The choice is up to us.

For me, this movie has everything or, at least, tells everything about human nature: intellectual curiosity, love feelings, forgiveness, violence, political and religious oppression. All of them (and their complex interrelations) convincingly portrayed in the context of a historical turning point, make a truly classic film with a lot to tell about the conflicts of contemporary time, of every time. Rachel Weisz is more than perfect as Hypatia of Alexandria. Beautiful views of the ancient city. Don't miss the incredible zooms. One of the very few films to effectively express the intimate emotion and awe of scientific discovery. In the theater where I saw this film, the audience was clearly impressed by the movie as a whole.

Unfocused look at the beginning of the dark ages has a dedicated cast of actors working with basically nothing in terms of a coherent plot. Rachel Weisz does extraordinary work with what she has but she's doing more than she should have in terms of the script she is working with and it shows because while the movie struggles with its incoherent plot, Weisz gamely gives it the strong characterization it needs. Fortunately for Weisz and the audience, she is surrounded by equally dedicated actors who bring more to their characters and the script as well with Max Minghella, Ashraf Barhom and Oscar Isaac each giving more to the material they are working with. Which is a shame because if the film had a tighter script that focus more on the age and time the film was set in, the film would have been much better off than it is right now. As it is, its more a lesson on how good acting can be blindsided by weak material than a lesson on what the age was about. 5/10 (For the acting only)

I'll start with the good parts. Rachel shines as usual. Not because her character is that interesting in the movie (though it looks like it might be in the beginning) but because her inner usual charisma. She seems bent to seek originality at all costs, though, in the last years. Alas, this one is too "original" for her own good, I think. There is some interesting picture of the city and of the atmosphere of the time. Realistic costumes and scenery. And it pretty much stops there. If you're into fictional stories, historical inaccuracies and misinterpretations which only retain some names but twist the events to the point of even making you laugh, then go for it. I for one, totally regret the time I lost watching it. You'd be better off reading a story about the big bad wolf. There also, everything is black and white but at least nobody's pretending to lecture you about history. Pretty soon after the start it shows the arson which supposedly consumed the famous Library of Alexandria. Except that the great majority of the historians, corroborating all the existent written sources, agree that the fire happened during one of Cesar's comings to Alexandria long before the time of this movie, in a totally different historical context. In fact, centuries before any character in this movie would have been born (sic!). Or at least some extent of time before the period when the action of this movie unfolds. Besides, the Serapeum is considered to have been a smaller, outer, public library, not the main Royal library which hosted apparently between 400.000-700.000 scrolls. Even being a smaller building, the Serapeum is supposed to have held somewhere around 40.000 manuscripts. What they show being burned there is a little more than all my books from the all the 4 high-school years. Furthermore, historians agree (based on historical evidence) that when the temple of Serapis was demolished at the order of emperor Theodosius, in year 391, it didn't contain anymore, since quite long, any books at all. I won't spoil further the pain of watching this bore, as what comes after that, looks way to politically seasoned, flavored and biased to be considered even remotely close to the historical facts. It's a pity, because it could have been good. It ended up just being another twisted and misinterpreted piece of history, the likes of which Hollywood seems to be feeding us ever increasingly in the latest years.

Muddled film that has its sights set high in the right course but lacks focus and a direct script that can handle the subject matter. Alejandro Amenábar tries his best but comes up short in many ways with his narrative. The movie is a little too long and the script wavers from time to time but Rachel Weisz's performance is Oscar worthy and deserving of a better film that respects the effort she puts in it. She makes you stay with the movie, even when It sputters out of control during the last half of the film. She gets good support from her leading men (Max Minghella and Oscar Isaac) but its hard for the three of them to connect with how unfocused the script is and that's the film's biggest problem. For Weisz's Oscar effort and the solid performances of her leading men, the movie gets a 7 but with out their performances, the movie would be much lower.

I remember hearing of Hypatia's tragic tale from Carl Sagan in his "Cosmos" TV series way back in 1980. I was appalled by the tale, and shook my head as any good reasoned young man would. It was a story that stuck with me for much of my life. And I often wondered if such an important biography would ever be published about this mysterious and remarkable historic figure. I truly did not think so, and believed that Hypatia's memory would have to live on with what little history there was written about her, and the blurb mentioned once or twice by Carl Sagan as he recounted the once magnificent library of Alexandria. People are stupid. I agree with Ridley Scott on this. They really and truly are. Whether it's the zealots portrayed in this film, or the Christian who sat behind me commenting on the film (he ACTUALLY APPLAUDED the Christians in the film), or just people in general, they really are stupid. It's how we get things like religion, and place not just some whimsical desire in them, but a devout belief, a serious conviction of some entity that is displeased by earthly decadence. Hence the crux of the story in "Agora". We have the absolute mind numbed moronic thinking of the masses verse the practicality of those who know they do not know everything, but have a thirst for knowledge, and to share that knowing with others so that they can live a life free of fear. But, we see that it is fear that wins out. Not reason. Not logic applied to a simple problem with a simple solution. But pure, unmitigated fear. Everyone from the heads of state, the heads of religions, the heads of mobs, the heads of any social entity in Roman Imperial Egypt is gripped by fear. Knowledge. Reason. Logic. Understanding. Education. Those are the true weapons that can assail the most ardent of foes. But fear is primal, and infects everyone and everything like a plague spread by rats. The notion of imaginary beings who, in spite of being all powerful and all knowing, are vested in a patch of desert and how its human female population dresses should be a warning sign. Does this not sound familiar? We have the same concerns today, and although codified and addressed by legislation for local morays, and investigated and codified by alleged behavioral experts, people are still pretty touchy about anything remotely informative that doesn't gybe with their ideals: as a for instance; sex in this case. Hypatia thinks like a man, despite her sexual makeup. She is the one who calls reason, as any good leader or scientist would. The rest merely cower to the polity dominating the social terrain. But she is optimistic. Even so, the times tragically overwhelm her. The story of Hypatia has been somewhat elongated, no doubt for dramatic effect. Regardless, it's a good watch. Buy yourself a ticket, or grab the DVD when it comes out. You won't be disappointed. Enjoy! :-)

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