Agora (2009)

I had an uncanny feeling that I had made this film myself and then forgotten all about it. You couldn't actually find anything closer to what I care about.

The story concerns the city of Alexandria shortly after the legalisation of Christianity, following three characters fortunes in the societal upheaval that brings: a slave, a member of the elite, and Hepatia, a brilliant physicist and philosopher.

I want to talk about Hepatia, played by Rachel Weisz, because she really is an example of a strong female character in a modern film, and after what we've been discussing in class it bears discussion. She's intelligent, self-motivated and the bravest character in the film. They don't even end up copping out by saying that while all that cleverness etc is all very well, what she really needs is a husband and children. She does wind up punished - brutally, too - but since this is historical fiction you can chalk that up to reality rather than the writers, since Hepatia the Philosopher was indeed stoned to death and then carried through the streets naked.

The encompassing argument of the film is about the role of religion in the state (ie: it's a very bad idea, and tends to get people stoned to death) and the danger of dogmatic religion full stop (ie: if you can't tolerate heathens, then you end up destroying their libraries and all the brilliant things they do). Equal weight is given to both the outgoing pagans' brutalities and the identical brutalities committed by the even more self-righteous new christians. It lampoons hypocritical, political religion when the elite converts en masse to maintain their power in the new order, and quotes some of the less fun bits of the new testament, namely the bit about women being second class citizens (that's what gets Hepatia stoned to death - her intelligence makes her a witch, apparently).

It's a brilliant film - well written, well acted, and surprisingly well CGI'd. I expected it to look a little bit more low budget but the sets and the CGI accompaniments are very well done. Oh, and Rachel Weisz's costumes are beautiful.

It's such a pity then that it was buried in the graveyard screen, only screen twice a day and given virtually no publicity. If it's still on, then I encourage you go and see it. If not, I know I'm going to get the DVD.