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This review is from: Agora (DVD)Is it right to question? Is it proper to doubt? Is it the question itself, or the questioner, who offends in asking? These are some of the issues presented in "Agora", the compelling film by Alejandro Amenabar starring Rachel Weisz.
The film presents the fascinating life of the Roman philosopher/mathematician/scientist Hypatia, a neo-Platonist philosopher of 4th century Alexandria. Very little is known of her scientific or philosophical discoveries, as none of her writings survived the fall of Rome and the rise of Christianity. What we do know of her comes from other writers of the period, who tell us she was widely regarded as the bright jewel of the empire for her wisdom, virtue and brilliant erudition. The broader outlines of her life are known, as are the larger historical and cultural context in which she lived.
As the film opens, Hypatia is laboring to develop a theory that explains the orbits of the planets in contradiction to the accepted Ptolemaic model of the time. Amenabar and his writer take a few artistic liberties in his presentation, as he imagines Hypatia's train of thought along these lines in the absence of any documentary evidence. We just don't know if this was in fact the case. But never mind that, as Art is well served here.
Do the planets travel around the earth, or the sun? Hypatia struggles relentlessly with this question against the backdrop of abrupt and shocking changes in Roman culture. The early Christians have gained a political foothold with imperial favor, and begin to challenge the Pagans and Jews in the provincial capital. The confrontations become violent. As the Christians gain power, they repress any differences of belief and insist on agreement with their faith, often at the point of a sword. Fascinated with this emerging model of the universe, Hypatia persists in her inquiries in the face of growing danger.
Amenabar has created a very convincing Alexandria. The sets and costumes are wonderful, and the writing is quick and idiomatic. Rachel Weisz gives another stand-out performance as someone completely taken up with the process of thought. Weisz's Hypatia is a woman of great perspicacity, intellectual honesty, personal warmth and moral courage. She gives us the convincing internal struggle with a Really Big Idea, a feat of acting that requires great artistic restraint. She succeeds admirably. Hypatia's simple scientific experiments are mesmerizing and charged with drama. Her intellectual struggles are at the same time rigorous and intuitive, deeply moving, yet not cold or distant. She cares about the people around her as much as her Really Big Idea. The rest of the cast performs at the same superb level.
Much has been said elsewhere about the romantic interests in the film. Fortunately, these are entirely secondary to the larger contrasts of the emerging cosmological model and the ultimate closing of the Roman mind. And it is highly refreshing to see a plot driven by a conflict other than the typical Hollywood-formula "love interest".
In life, we know that Hypatia died a martyr to her beliefs. We also know that this moment in European history marked the beginning of the end of the free-thinking philosophy peculiar to Classical, Hellenistic culture. Which makes Hypatia's problems quite contemporary, as people everywhere face the same challenge today. Is it good or right to question? If history is any judge then it certainly is, because that is the only way one will arrive at the truth.
