Agora - A film about Hypatia of Alexandria

[Blogopolis]

I was introduced to this film by Internet Infidel Richard Carrier on his blog. It is a multifaceted historical fiction film about the clash of Christian, Pagan and Jewish cultures in the city of Alexandria. At the center of this maelstrom is a Neoplatonic scholar named Hypatia. She quietly but doggedly pursues her scientific research while the three factions threaten to rip each other apart.

I saw it on a postcard sized film screen at Cinema Village in NYC. A film like this deserves a bigger venue.

This is to alert the people of this site about a grand and insightful film which does not depict Christians, Jews, Pagans or Nonbelievers in two-dimensional caricatures. It does however address the problems of zealotry, violence and persecution.

Search your local movie theaters for this magnificent story. If you can't find it, well, there's always Netflix. Perhaps it will be available there soon.

[TheSixthGlass]

I listened to a podcast about Hypatia several months back, and the sad thing is that it was the first I had heard about her. I'll have to try and find it - I think it was maybe on youtube from The Infidel Guy or something like that?

Anyway, I haven't gotten around to seeing the film yet (there's always a giant stack of stuff to watch) but I will soon. Another interesting note is that not only have I heard good things about it, but it stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia.

It's scheduled to be available on October 19 of this year, so we shouldn't have to wait too much longer.

[kimsmarkin]

I think the actor who plays Hypatia is a beautiful and convincing as the free spirit of the age of bigotry and also good performance in its consumed two potential lovers, aristocratic and the prefect Orestes second and last slave and a Christian fanatic , Davus.

[gamutman]

I was actually lucky enough to see this film before it even came to American screens. It truly is fantastic. My only problem with it was that they took some pretty big liberties in exaggerating the kind of astrological knowledge possibly possessed by the people of this era, but any movie of this kind is going to take liberties. Actually, now that I think of it, I suppose that's not really any more offensive than suggesting that Jesus invented the tall table as Gibson did in his Passion movie.

[denzilmartin11]

Agora saw when he first came in New York and I agree it was a beautifully shot film. As you point out there are some defects - Amenábar has played a little fast and lose the history. The Great Library of Alexandria did not end as he describes and Sinesio was not a shock. the characters are drawn so broadly on all sides that the war never comes to life.