Review of Agora (2009) by Taku Y — 05 Mar 2011

Alejandro Amenábar's masterpiece "Agora" is a breathtaking, yet far underestimated historical movie that has an atheist as the hero and paints religion as resoundingly dangerous and flawed. The movie - and the makers have my highest respect for that - however does its best to avoid having an agenda and casting one side or the other as "evil" and watching the story unfold quickly makes it obvious why this was the best thing to do.

Rachel Weisz plays that hero, a female philosopher and scientist who was light years beyond her generation, and she probably gives one of her best acting performances. She's back up by Max Minghella, who is a great actor in his own right and Oscar Isaac, who is just as good. The triangle between them in believable and touch by their struggles to find their destinies. Its a moving cinematic piece of art and Alejandro does the story proud in his way of capturing the time of struggles of that time. Add to that very good CGI where it is needed (e. g. giving the audience an idea of what the library of Alexandria might have looked like), great photography and a powerful score by Dario Marianelli. The film leaves you with an overwhelming sense of the pathetic tragedy of human existence and is definitely worth watching if you're interested in history. Don't expect a happy-end though...for there is none.