Agora (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Agora is a 2009 Spanish historical drama film directed by Alejandro Amenábar, written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil, and starring Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella. It tells the story of Hypatia, a female philosopher in Roman Egypt, who is portrayed by Weisz. With dramatic license, the biopic includes a romantic angle: her slave falls in love with her. It was screened Out of Competition at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. It has useful pointers to Jewish deicide, mob violence and religious intolerance, the importance of libraries, heliocentrism based on Aristarchus of Samos, gender roles, and the Jewish–Roman wars.
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Plot
The film centers around the astronomer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria (Weisz) and several men whom she knows such as her slave Davus (Minghella), who is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity. Increasingly, Hypatia comes into conflict with the Christian leaders of Alexandria.
Controversy
The Religious Anti-Defamation Observatory protested against the film for "promoting hatred of Christians and reinforcing false clichés about the Catholic Church." The film at first had trouble finding a distributor in both the USA and Italy although it eventually found distributors.
Reception
The film holds a 69% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on sixteen reviews. It also scored more than 7.5 stars over 10 on IMDb (The Internet Movie Database). Agora was Spain's highest grossing film of 2009, earning over $10.3 million within four days of its release on October 9.
Cast
- Rachel Weisz as Hypatia of Alexandria
- Max Minghella as Davus, her slave
- Oscar Isaac as governor Orestes
- Sammy Samir as bishop and saint Cyril of Alexandria
- Manuel Cauchi as bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, uncle of Cyril
- Ashraf Barhom as Ammonius, a Parabolani monk
- Michael Lonsdale as Theon of Alexandria, father of Hypatia and director of the Musaeum of Alexandria
- Rupert Evans as bishop Synesius of Cyrene
- Homayoun Ershadi as Aspasius the old slave.
See also