ON THE SILVER SCREEN: "AGORA" IS A SUCCESSFUL THINKING PERSON'S EPIC

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

By Brian Lafferty

 

August 8, 2010 (San Diego)—Don’t go into Agora, which was released to theaters on July 30, expecting something along the lines of 300. It is more intellectual and philosophical than that. I like to think of it as a smart person’s epic. There is bloodshed but not as soaked and certainly not as fake. There is love and lust but there is no sex. Alejandro Amenabar has shied away from the obligatory scenes associated with these movies and replaced them with scenes that contain intelligence, relying on the solid writing and great performances.

 

Agora is divided into two seemingly unrelated plots that eventually converge and comment on each other. One is the Christian takeover of Alexandria and the other involves Hypatia’s work on finding out whether the Earth revolves around the Sun.

 

The difficulty of having multiple plots is equally maintaining the audience’s interest in both. When one subplot isn’t strong and interesting, viewers will sit in bored anticipation waiting for the second to show up.

 

Both subplots work on their own different levels. The Christians are dangerously charismatic. They are convincing and persuasive without resorting to being preachy and holier-than-thou. This makes them very attractive to potential believers and to viewers who would have easily been turned off if they were bible-thumpers.

 

The film has a lot to say about religion and I felt it was valid. It is an eerily veiled commentary on religious rights and how devout followers feel their religion is more sacred and important than all others. Through the tearing down of Alexandria and the destruction of the library, which is considered to be all that remains of the wisdom of man, Amenabar chillingly demonstrates the lengths people will go to in order to defend their religious beliefs and impose them on others.

 

The violent scenes are some of the most realistic I’ve seen in a movie this year. In a typical Hollywood film, CGI would have been used to create crowds and to soak the screen in computerized blood. But Agora is not a Hollywood film and Amenabar wisely chooses to use real people, even if they number in the hundreds to the thousands. The results are genuine and lend the film a very epic feel. During the effective, yet heartbreaking, sequence in which Alexandria is taken over, Amenabar includes overhead shots of the destruction. The Christians, seen in a distance from an isometric angle, look like ants.

 

I loved hearing the characters talk because they always had something intelligent to say. There are a lot of deep conversations and debates among them on topics such as whether the Earth revolves around the Sun or whether the Earth is round or flat. Because the dialogue is written in a way that gives a sense of the time and because of the acting, there is no sense of obvious attempts at dramatic irony. We know the Earth orbits the sun and that it is most definitely round but they didn’t know that.

 

The only complaint I have with Agora is the length. It goes on for perhaps ten to twenty minutes longer than it should have but the overall experience was satisfying and pleasing. Whereas many action movies this year have been vacuous and forgettable, this one has stuck with me ever since I saw it. I strongly recommend you see it. Can an action-adventure epic movie be intellectually stimulating? After seeing Agora, the answer is yes.
 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.