Film Review: Agora (2009)

Yesterday I finally got around to watching Agora, a 2009 film starring Rachel Weisz. I watched several TV interviews with Ms. Weisz last year when she was promoting this film but didn't think it was worth my while until yesterday when I was bored and in need of a distraction. I am now here to tell you that you must watch this film.

The premise is a bit involved. Set in 4th century Roman Egypt, the story revolves around Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), a brilliant philosopher and daughter of Theon, the director of the Museum of Alexandria, including the great Library of Alexandria, the largest library in the world. Now the various one-sentence plot synopses I've seen for the film all claim that it is about a slave who falls in Hypatia. I failed to find this the salient point of the movie. To me it is about this amazing woman, who is revered by her male students (yes, she has students and teaches them about astronomy, geometry, physics, etc.) and is a voice of reason and logic in a time and setting that is plagued by chaos, religious revolt and upheaval.

Unlike most Hollywood depictions of women (and as the one-sentence plot would have you believe) Hypatia is not remotely interested in love or romance of any kind. She is solidly wedded to her work and her sole obsession is determining whether the Earth revolves around the sun and how to reconcile this with the theory of a "perfect" circular orbit. If this sounds like nothing you've heard before, you're right. How many women in film are depicted to have an overriding passion in their lives that has nothing to do with men? If anything, Hypatia spurns male advances with brutal finality, handing a handkerchief soaked with her menstrual blood to Orestes (Oscar Isaac), a student who just won't stop lusting after her. He goes on to become the Prefect of Alexandria, a political position of great power, and yet he is thoroughly reliant on the advice and conversation of the "Lady," his teacher whose words and philosophy he has never stopped admiring. Hypatia's other students include Synesius (Rupert Evans), who goes on to become a Bishop of Cyrene, and Davus (Max Minghella), a former slave who Hypatia freed amidst the tumult of the Christian uprising against the pagans in Alexandria. It is this former slave who holds an unrequited love for Hypatia and struggles to reconcile his adoption of Christianity with the opinion his fellow Christians hold of Hypatia's treacherousness and godlessness.

Hypatia is refreshingly godless - the movie portrays her as an atheist, who when asked if she believes in God replies, "I believe in philosophy." She thinks she "must" question everything she believes in, and till the end, she is only consumed by her thoughts of planetary orbits and the sun, ignoring all the strife and political bickering that are destroying Alexandria and her former students. While the film cannot pass the Bechdel Test (Hypatia is the only female character), the story is a feminist's delight and also a sobering look at religious fundamentalism and its impact on a prosperous society that once thirsted for knowledge. While many have complained about the film's historical inaccuracies, and the linking the destruction of the Library of Alexandria to the religious rioting amongst Christians and pagans and later Jews and Christians, I think the narrative works as a reflection on what happens when you allow religion to impede the progress of science and knowledge, and to also declare women subservient to men. Hypatia was a glorious teacher who was held in high esteem by her students and tried her best to advance the fund of human knowledge. It is a shame that she was defeated by politics and zealots who could not stand the idea that a woman could provide rational advice and have any influence over the important men of her day.

Aside from these narrative elements, I would be remiss if I did not mention that the film is simply beautiful to look at. The costumes and settings have been created with great attention to detail (apparently the night skies depicted in the film accurately represent the position of the stars in 4th century Alexandria) and the sweeping shots of an Alexandria that is teeming with life make this remote period of history come alive for a 21st century audience.

The acting is also impeccable. It would take a strong woman to play Hypatia and Rachel Weisz delivers with a calm grace that leaves you in no doubt as to the character's motivations and pure belief in philosophy. The actors playing her students do a wonderful job showing their devotion to their teacher, and Oscar Isaac does a particularly laudable turn by going from an arrogant lothario determined to win Hypatia's love to a sober Prefect who delights in her company and seeks to learn everything she can teach him.

Agora is a hard film to summarise: it covers a wide breadth of topics and deals with several thorny issues. Ultimately I found it admirable because for 2 hours it steeped me in the culture and history of another age and left me with several ideas about how our present might not be so different.