Agora | DVD Review

Agora is a film that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a historical drama about a brilliant mathematician and philosopher on the verge of unravelling the mysteries of the cosmos while three very different men vie for her affection or is it a swords and sandals epic centered around the idea that religious intolerance and power-mongering are the root of all evil? Writer/director Alejandro Amenabar (The Others, The Sea Inside) capably intertwines both subjects into a cohesive and relational whole – it is based on fact, after all – but the heavy-handedness with which he delivers his message is, unfortunately, all too apparent.

Co-written with Mateo Gil (Vanilla Sky), Agora is set in the great Egyptian city of Alexandria, which has grown to become the intellectual center of society in 391 A.D., where eminent mathematician/philosopher Hypatia (Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener) teaches her theories to a group of students, some of whom seem more interested in winning her affection than in expanding their minds with her teachings. The pagan Orestes (Oscar Isaac, Robin Hood) is the most open about his crush on Hypatia, while the Christian Synesius (Rupert Evans, Hellboy) seems more content to admire her from afar. It is her slave Davus (Max Minghella, The Social Network), though, who secretly pines for her more than any man. This rather odd ‘love quadrilateral’ – odd, because Hypatia has no interest whatsoever in anything other than her own thirst for knowledge – is made all the more complicated by the rising tide of religious zealotry that ends up causing the destruction of Alexandria’s legendary library and results in a small scale religious war that takes no prisoners and forces everyone involved to take sides.

While much of what transpires onscreen actually did happen, the problem in making both stories primary in the film is that each takes something away from the other, leading to a lack of narrative focus and the two stories fighting for prominence. The result is a lot of scenes of Hypatia and her brethren beginning many sentences with the words “what if” as they discuss their theories of the cosmos, and a ham-fisted message – the only thing missing was a character actually asking “why can’t we all just get along?” – about the evils of religious intolerance. All of this is a shame, too, because Agora is actually a very technologically sound film. On top of the solid acting from all involved, the accomplished cinematography, grandiose sets and ornate-yet-equally-drab costumes all contribute to giving the film an air of authenticity missing from many historical epics. The high point of the film, though, is the score by Dario Marianelli (an Oscar winner for Atonement). The mish-mash of styles used in Marianelli’s music for Agora perfectly mirrors the reality of multi-cultural (even in 391 A.D.) Alexandria, a city like no other of its time, where the thirst for knowledge – at least up until then – was stronger than the thirst for power.

As mentioned, Agora is technologically sound. The 2.35:1 widescreen presentation on the DVD release from E1 Entertainment allows for the visuals to truly shine. The wide shots are gorgeous, to say the least, and the grey tones serve to convey the necessary dark tone when depicting what many believe to be one of the most devastating events in history: the loss of the much-vaunted library of Alexandria, ransacked and burned in the midst of a religious battle. The 5.1 surround mix is solid as well, enhancing Marianelli’s beautiful score. What is strange about this release, though, is that it does not include Amenabar’s commentary track, nor does it include the making-of documentary that the director touts in his introduction to the film. As for what is included:

Agora Documentary: Alexandria The Greatest City: This wholly engrossing 45-minute documentary about the city of Alexandria is actually an episode of the British television series The Ancient World with Bettany Hughes, in which the historian tells the story of Alexandria, from its beginnings as Alexander the Great’s egotistical attempt to mold a city in his own image to its evolution into one of the richest and most multi-cultural cities in the world. Fascinating stuff that many will find least as interesting as Agora itself.

Introduction by director: In this subtitled vignette, Amenabar takes a moment to explain the film a bit and also discuss his reasoning for wanting to make it. What’s odd is that before starting he mentions that he’s about to record the commentary track for the DVD, a commentary track that is missing from this release.

Deleted Scenes: There are roughly ten minutes worth of deleted scenes that were most likely cut for time, although a couple of the scenes featured comic moments that would probably have seemed out of place within the serious context of the film.

Trailer: Exactly what you’d expect from a feature called ‘trailer’.

As Spain’s most expensive film ever (with a reported budget of 73 million dollars), and having been an official selection at Cannes and TIFF, Agora delivers in terms of beautiful scenery and visual effects; it truly is a technical achievement. But the story itself, with two seemingly disparate narratives that seem to fight for screen time but ultimately tie in together, is somehow lacking; a scholar trying to decipher the workings of the universe while religious upheaval transpires all around her just doesn’t make for the most enthralling movie-going experience. In the end, despite its historical accuracy on both counts (with some liberties taken…you can’t cram the goings-on of one of the most important historical epochs into two hours without doing so), Agora suffers because of its dual personality.

Movie rating – 2.5

Disc Rating – 2.5