Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
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Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Synopsis:
International Teaser:
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Set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D., Weisz plays astrologer-philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Variety review:
The mother of all secular humanists fights a losing battle against freshly minted religious zealots in “Agora,” a visually imposing, high-minded epic that ambitiously puts one of the pivotal moments in Western history onscreen for the first time. Alejandro Amenabar’s first feature since “The Sea Inside” five years ago foreshadows the transformation of the Roman-dominated ancient world into Christian medieval times through the story of the much-celebrated astronomer and mathematician Hypatia in 4th-century Alexandria. This elaborately produced English-language Spanish production is consistently spectacular and features enough conflict and action to make it marketable, but a certain heaviness of style and lack of an emotional pulse could pose problems for mass audience acceptance, at least in the U.S.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Can't wait for this. Love historical films, especially ones set in this period, I'm excited to see this particular story told onscreen for the first time, and I like Rachel Weisz a lot (and I've read that she's typically fantastic in this).
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
I love Rachel Weisz.
That is all.
Ok... just based on that really short trailer that didn't show much, it at least LOOKS pretty good. And it also reminding me of Rome... even though it's in Egypt.
That is all.
Ok... just based on that really short trailer that didn't show much, it at least LOOKS pretty good. And it also reminding me of Rome... even though it's in Egypt.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
I love that snub at US audiences.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
I hope to see this in a couple weeks at the Toronto Film Festival. Reading that Guy Hendrix Dyas was the production designer on this just sealed the deal for me. His work in Elizabeth: The Golden Age was phenomenal.
Egypt was part of the Roman Empire at this period in time so you are correct. HBO's Rome was even planning an entire season set in Egypt until the network told the producers that the second season would also be its last.
And it also reminding me of Rome... even though it's in Egypt.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Saw this a couple days ago. I've been thinking about it for two days straight and can't get it out of my head. Any fan of the ancient period (and particularly the fall of pagen Rome and the rise of Christianity) should see this. The sets are absolutely incredible; they've recreated Alexandria in all its glory, including the Lighthouse. It definitely feels more broad than the production of HBO's "Rome" which always seemed smallish scale in nature. The costumes are spot-on and they must have used hundreds of extras. You really do feel like you're completely immersed in the time period.
The performances are very good too. Rachel Weisz plays a philosopher who's struggling to dissect the cosmos and determine the true orbital rotation of the planets. That's where the film gets a little sketchy; the increasingly bloody battle between the pages, the Christians and the Jews is very well done and very emotional, but then the film intermittently switches to Weisz measuring the Earth's orbit and doing calculations and it kind of feels misplaced. It's like "Passion of the Christ" meets "October Sky." But it's based on a real person so I'm not sure how much of that was meant to be true to form.
Like I said, I can't stop thinking about it. The whole situation is just so bloody and tragic, you can't help but feel impacted even after 2000 years. You just want to go in a time machine and travel back to save all those amazing monuments and libraries and scrolls and statues. And it really makes you think about the fall of Rome and how colossal a shift it was to move from paganism to Christianity and the violent nature of the changeover as different sides battled it out. No religion here really comes out looking that good, although the Christians are painted as the worst aggressors which is historically accurate.
It's not the most amazing film but it's one I would recommend to anyone with even a scant amount of interest in the time period and what the rise of Christianity looked like on the ground.
The performances are very good too. Rachel Weisz plays a philosopher who's struggling to dissect the cosmos and determine the true orbital rotation of the planets. That's where the film gets a little sketchy; the increasingly bloody battle between the pages, the Christians and the Jews is very well done and very emotional, but then the film intermittently switches to Weisz measuring the Earth's orbit and doing calculations and it kind of feels misplaced. It's like "Passion of the Christ" meets "October Sky." But it's based on a real person so I'm not sure how much of that was meant to be true to form.
Like I said, I can't stop thinking about it. The whole situation is just so bloody and tragic, you can't help but feel impacted even after 2000 years. You just want to go in a time machine and travel back to save all those amazing monuments and libraries and scrolls and statues. And it really makes you think about the fall of Rome and how colossal a shift it was to move from paganism to Christianity and the violent nature of the changeover as different sides battled it out. No religion here really comes out looking that good, although the Christians are painted as the worst aggressors which is historically accurate.
It's not the most amazing film but it's one I would recommend to anyone with even a scant amount of interest in the time period and what the rise of Christianity looked like on the ground.
Last edited by BJacks; 04-23-10 at 10:13 AM.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Just got back from seeing this and it blew me away. Was not it expecting it to be THAT good, but it's just a beautiful film and the performances are stellar.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Good luck finding it my friend. It's only in two theaters here in Washington D.C. One at one of the two Landmark chains (Bethesda). The other, a hole in the wall theater in Fairfax Virginia. Which is a real shame. I thought the film was rather epic and deserved a bigger and better release. If you have an all regional DVD player, it comes oout in the U.K. next week.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Good luck finding it my friend. It's only in two theaters here in Washington D.C. One at one of the two Landmark chains (Bethesda). The other, a hole in the wall theater in Fairfax Virginia. Which is a real shame. I thought the film was rather epic and deserved a bigger and better release. If you have an all regional DVD player, it comes oout in the U.K. next week.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Just rented this movie. Great sad film. If Jews ran Hollywood, this movie would have played in all the US theaters! But nope, Christians don't like movies that make them look bad (when in fact it's a movie that pertains to any fanatical religion during any time and any place) nor do they like unhappy endings!
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Just rented this movie. Great sad film. If Jews ran Hollywood, this movie would have played in all the US theaters! But nope, Christians don't like movies that make them look bad (when in fact it's a movie that pertains to any fanatical religion during any time and any place) nor do they like unhappy endings!
Good grief...
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Didn't you read what I just wrote? I said it makes any fanatics of any religion look bad - not Christians...but I understand now why US theaters didn't play it in mainstream theaters, because USA is a Christian-controlled country and wouldn't want a movie to to make them look bad. On the surface to Christians, they will think this movie is making fun of them. But the moral of the movie is that it's pertaining to all religions. The movie makes Christians look bad according to Christians because a closed-minded religious person will only see this movie as the way it is shown, not what's underneath.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
Didn't you read what I just wrote? I said it makes any fanatics of any religion look bad - not Christians...but I understand now why US theaters didn't play it in mainstream theaters, because USA is a Christian-controlled country and wouldn't want a movie to to make them look bad. On the surface to Christians, they will think this movie is making fun of them. But the moral of the movie is that it's pertaining to all religions. The movie makes Christians look bad according to Christians because a closed-minded religious person will only see this movie as the way it is shown, not what's underneath.
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Re: Agora (Amenabar, 2009): Rachel Weisz as Hypatia in Roman Egypt
According to closed-minded, conservative Christians...yes. But for me, no.
Why don't you think Agora played in the USA?
No, not boring at all - it's an exciting film and moves along at a very quick pace - not one dull moment in the film. The teaching/talky scenes are even more exciting than the action scenes! Definitely a rental! I'm glad I didn't buy the Spanish blu-ray, cuz it is a great movie once type of film. I don't think I could watch it so many times.
Why don't you think Agora played in the USA?
No, not boring at all - it's an exciting film and moves along at a very quick pace - not one dull moment in the film. The teaching/talky scenes are even more exciting than the action scenes! Definitely a rental! I'm glad I didn't buy the Spanish blu-ray, cuz it is a great movie once type of film. I don't think I could watch it so many times.