There is a lot for a Catholic reviewer to say about Agora (2009).  Perhaps the place to start would be that the film was made at all.  This has nothing to do with its Christian character, which does not display the Faith in the best light.  Nonetheless, the Church assisted in the depictions of the early Faithful, which should point to the fact that Catholicism does not hide from ugly aspects of its past.  Rather, it is remarkable that a story about a relatively unknown female philosopher, Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), and the religious milieu in which she lived in the 4^th and 5^th centuries made it to the big screen.  It is not the kind of thing that typically interests studios, and I think it might have best been left to historians to ponder.

Indeed, there is a lot of pondering going on in Agora, which is the public meeting space in the ancient city of Alexandria.  Where that pondering is done is the famous library at Alexandria, which is also a repository of pre-Christian religions where their gods are still worshipped.  Regardless, Hypatia teaches her students there, and her main focus is on the movement of celestial bodies.  Meanwhile, outside the debates between Christians, Jews, and followers of other traditions are being played out in the title location.  These arguments are witnesses by Davus (Max Minghella), a slave in Hypatia’s household.  The one for which he is present involves Ammonius (Ashraf Barhom) mocking those the Parabolani monk refers to as pagans. Calling upon God, Ammonius walks across a fire pit kept burning for one of these lower-case deities and is not hurt.  The spectacle makes an impression on Davus, who starts asking questions of Ammonius about Christianity.  Meanwhile, Hypatia’s father, Theon of Alexandria (Michael Lonsdale), is concerned about the rising sectarian violence in the city, which he blames on adherents to Jesus.  When one of Theon’s other servants is found with a cross, he demands to know the identity of the person, who will be expelled.  Though a woman eventually comes forward, Davus intervenes for her.  Because he is one of Hypatia’s students, whom she considers as equals, she vouches for him and he remains in their employ.  Further, he has ideas about Earth being the center of the universe based on her teachings, and she respects his opinions.  The feeling is mutual, however his are of a romantic variety that she does not reciprocate.  There is a classmate, though, who is also vying for Hypatia’s affection, the arrogant Orestes (Oscar Isaac).  Maybe arrogant is too strong a word, for he is willing to go on stage at a public play to declare his love for his teacher.  As with Davus, Hypatia does not have the same depth of feeling for Orestes.  In discussing the matter that night with friends, Theon dismisses the notion of his daughter being beholden to a man and blames all the present problems on Christianity.  Thus, soon thereafter when word reaches the library that members of the Word are disrespecting the gods, the cry is raised to take up arms in kill them in the streets.  With Hypatia looking on in horror, Theon gives his assent and a riot commences.  Though it initially goes well for the pagans, the Christians soon mass and push the former into the confines of the library.  There, a veritable siege proceeds until the matter is settled by the Roman emperor.  The message delivered to the beleaguered residents calls for those who initiated the fighting to be pardoned, but for the library to be turned over to the mob.  As Theon is dying of wounds sustained during the chaos, the rest pack up as much as they can of the valuable documents and leave out the backdoor guarded by Roman soldiers.  Davus stays and takes part in the destruction.  Indeed, the film jumps ahead a few years at this point and he has joined the Parabolani.  Meanwhile, everyone else has fallen in line with the Christians and Jews, though the peace between them is about to shatter.  While this is brewing, Hypatia continues to ponder the stars, her work being her sole concern.  Things are about to get more concerning, however, when Theophilus of Alexandria (Manuel Cauchi), pope (basically bishop at this time) of the city, dies.  Taking his place is an eventual saint and doctor of the Church, Cyril of Alexandria (Sami Samir).  I will be talking more about him later, but for now he is shown to be a friend of the Parabolani, who act as the Christians’ enforcers.  Their behavior is not well liked among the residents, primarily the Jews, who lure the monks to a church where the so-called men of God are stoned.  Ammonius and Davus survive, and the matter is reported to Cyril, who brings it up with Orestes.  By this point, the latter is the prefect of the city appointed by the emperor, and he walks a fine line between keeping all these sects happy and maintaining his friendship with Hypatia.  This last bit is important because after a disagreement over what to be done about the remaining Jews in the city, the last of the Parabolani, save for Davus, blame Hypatia for clouding Orestes’ judgment.  Speaking of Hypatia, another of her former students, Synesius of Cyrene (Rupert Evans), has come back from being the bishop elsewhere to help settle the disputes.  In talking to Orestes, Synesius convinces the prefect of the folly of not bowing before Cyril’s authority.  As such, Orestes asks Hypatia to come to the palace to explain to her that they all must be baptized, something she cannot do because of her latent questioning nature.  Meanwhile, Davus is trying to find Hypatia to warn her of the violence planned against her.  He is too late, though, spotting her as she is being led to her execution by other Parabolani.  Though he is unable to stop her death, he grants her a less painful execution by suffocating her before walking away from her dismemberment.

Yes, Agora concludes with Hypatia being torn from limb-to-limb, but it stops before it gets gory.  It is a terrible moment in early Christian history, though the film makes her death to be far more significant.  The problem is that while we are aware of her existence, and even the fact that she was well respected in Alexandria, we know little about what she believed.  What we get is a person who supposedly figured out elliptical orbits but whose life is cut short before she could make her findings known.  It is not the only historical stretch in the film.  Another would be the depiction of St. Cyril.  To be clear, he did not behave in a way we expect Catholic clergy to act today.  I am putting that as nicely as I can.  However, for what we see in the movie, historians disagree as to his level of responsibility.  The only source we have for the negative depiction we have here comes from a few centuries after the fact, and by someone with an avowed vendetta against Christianity.  It was St. Cyril’s theological writing that makes him important today.  It is the focus on the bad parts that make it a difficult watch, which is unfortunate because there are some genuinely strong Christian moments.  As Davus is beginning the process of becoming a Christian, he wants to see a miracle.  Instead of trying to make something incredible happen, the monk takes the slave to feed the poor.  Davus hands out the provision meant for Theon, which Ammonius calls this the real miracle.  For as bad a person as Ammonius turns out to be, he is absolutely correct in how he characterizes these actions.  The needy cry out to God because they have no other recourse, and God answers them.  It is accurate to refer to this as divine intervention, and as such is as rough and ready of a definition of a miracle as you can find.

Nonetheless, I found Agora a difficult watch.  Admittedly, this was because of aspects of the plot that bumped against what I thought I knew about figures like St. Cyril.  While it is remarkable that such a movie was made, it is another case of historical inaccuracy.  There are better uses of your time.