Agora (2010)
Starring Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella
Directed by Alejandro Amenábar
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***
There's not a doubt in my mind that Alejandro Amenábar's flick Agora is anti-Christian. In case we weren't aware of this via his blatant storytelling, Amenábar costumes all the Christians in dark clothing while everyone else wears white. Still, somehow this period costume drama that focuses on (sarcasm alert) über-exciting topics like religion and philosophy kept me interested for over two hours, moving at a shockingly quick pace. Granted, the one-sided nature of Agora ultimately brings the film down a notch or two, but thanks to some decent performances, my interest was piqued in this historical drama.
In 4th century Alexandria, Greek philosopher/teacher Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) finds herself and her students at the center of a changing society. Her peoples' paganistic beliefs in multiple gods are at odds with the increasing Christian presence in the city, and they're fighting a losing battle as their famous Library at Alexandria soon becomes ransacked and destroyed. With the Christians taking control of the city, they will stop at nothing to eradicate all non-believers, Hypatia and her colleagues included.
While there's undoubtedly an anti-Christian tone on display, I prefer to look at this film as a diatribe against fanaticism of any religion. In that sense, I found the film moderately interesting. (Of course, I may just be stretching the actual truth, trying to make this film more enjoyable for myself than it probably should be.) Still, the disappointing black-and-whiteness of the whole thing with the Greek pagans doing absolutely nothing wrong and the Christians doing seemingly nothing right is kind of a crock. Co-screenwriter Amenábar doesn't allow for anything beyond one-dimensional complexities on either side and it hurts the flick in the end.
Still, there's a pretty good performance from Rachel Weisz as Hypatia even though I found some of the dialog she's forced to spout comparing scientific reason to unwavering faith fairly lame. In fact, it's the subdued scenes with Weisz that play much better than the rather silly swordfighting shenanigans that go on around her.
The RyMickey Rating: C
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