Welcome back to Movie Recaps. Today I will show you an adventure,
drama film from 2009, titled Agora. Spoilers ahead! Watch out and take care.
By the end of the fourth century, the Roman Empire has started to crumble. In Egypt,
the city of Alexandria holds the biggest library ever known, which is both a religious and a
cultural symbol. It's also a place for the pagans to worship their gods, an important tradition to
keep because these days they have to coexist with the Jewish and the Christians. It's in
this library where Greek philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician Hypatia gives classes to future
leaders, like her pupils the pagan Orestes and the Christian Synesius. Her slave Davus assists
Hypatia during her classes, using the opportunity to learn science too and to simply spend time with
his master because he's secretly in love with her. One afternoon, while working around the library,
Davus watches Orestes trying to court Hypatia, but leaves before he can be discovered. Later, Hypatia
complains about Orestes' audacity to her father Theon, the director of the Musaeum of Alexandria.
Theon has always supported Hypatia's wish not to marry and agrees Orestes should back off.
Meanwhile, Ammonius, a Christian monk from the Parabalani brotherhood, is arguing with
the pagans in front of a large crowd. To prove his God is the real one, he walks through fire without
taking damage, then he pushes the pagan monk onto the fire as well. Theon, who is also in the crowd,
can only observe how a fellow brother burns because Ammonius can't control himself. Later,
Theon finds a crucifix in his home and discovers it belongs to a slave girl, who will have to be
punished. Desperate to protect her, Davus pretends to be Christian as well and asks to be punished
for both of them, so Theo uses his whip on him, ignoring Hypatia's pleas not to do it. Afterward,
Hypatia checks on Davus, and while cleaning his wounds, she asks him if he's really Christian,
but he doesn't answer to avoid trouble. Hypatia also finds a Ptolemaic System he's built according
to her teachings, and she's so impressed that she invites him to show it to the class the next day.
Davus' presentation of the astronomy concepts is brilliant, but it also triggers an argument
between Orestes and Synesius. Hypatia makes them stop by reminding them that at the end of the day,
they're all brothers, and brawls are for slaves and periphera. This comment hurts Davus,
who now can't bring himself to enjoy the applause he receives for his presentation.
After class, Davus is out grocery shopping when he finds Ammonius preaching to anyone that will hear
him. Realizing this is the man that performed the miracle, Davus follows him to the church,
where the Bishop is giving mass. Ammonius thinks Davus would make a good soldier for the Parabalani
and he wants to teach him how to pray, but first, Davus must give the food he's bought to the poor,
because that's the real miracle. In the meantime, Hypatia and Theon are watching a play.
During the intermission, Orestes plays a song for Hypatia to declare his love for her,
and once he's done, he gifts his instrument to her while Davus watches from afar. Later in the day,
Theon is told by some friends what a good man Orestes is and how he'll most likely go very far,
so he would make an excellent husband. However, Theon refuses to give Hypatia's hand to him,
because married life wouldn't allow her to teach anymore. Davus hears all this
while serving the men, so afterward, he prays to God, asking not to let anyone else have Hypatia.
The following morning during class, Hypatia gives Orestes a gift of her own:
it's a piece of cloth with blood from her cycle. This is her way to turn him down,
so an upset Orestes throws the gift on the ground before stomping out of the room. Hypatia isn't
able to continue her class, though because an emergency calls for everyone to go outside, but
before leaving, Davus picks up the bloody piece of cloth and thanks his God for Hypatia's decision.
Hypatia and her pupils join a crowd listening to a pagan monk explaining that Christians have
come together in the agora, a public gathering space, to mock the pagan gods. He thinks they
should retaliate, but Hypatia disagrees: becoming a murderer isn't worth it merely over a few words.
The decision is up to Theon to make as the director, and he agrees that they should attack.
Weapons are brought to arm the men, and while Hypatia stops her pupils and Davus from going,
she can't do the same with Orestes and Theon, and both of them join the fight. The pagans
arrive at the agora and a massacre begins. One of Theon's slaves reveals he's a Christian and
turns against his master, hurting Theon on the head. Orestes saves Theon before it gets worse
and takes him back to the library, where all the pagans are retreating because they've realized
there are more Christians than they expected. The Parabalani are arriving too, so the gates
of the library are closed. Any Christian that has managed to sneak inside is taken hostage, and the
pagan monks want to capture Synesius and the other Christians among Hypatia's class as well.
Hypatia tries to defend them but her word as a woman is ignored, so Orestes jumps in their
defense and manages to save them by threatening anyone that dares to touch his brothers. Hypatia
keeps an eye on Theon's wound and when night falls, she asks Davus to stay near her so she can
sleep safely. Once most people in the library are asleep, Synesius and his fellow Christian pupils
sneak out of the library, although first Synesius stops by to give a sleeping Hypatia his blessing
and pray for her protection. Davus sees all this but doesn't say a word, and after they're gone,
he takes the chance to put his hand on Hypatia's foot. Days pass while the Christians continue to
siege the library. Theon's wound gets infected, but Hypatia tries to keep everyone's mood up by
continuing to talk about astronomy during the nights spent under the open sky.
One day, the siege finally comes to an end when an envoy of the Roman Emperor arrives
and declares the pagans will be pardoned under one condition: the Christians must be allowed
to take over the library. Knowing everything will be destroyed, the pagans fortify the gates
to gain some time and escape safely. However while Orestes takes Theon away, Hypatia takes
the rest of her pupils with her to rescue as many scrolls as possible before the Christians arrive.
Danus wants to escape as well but Hypatia makes him work, insulting him and slaves in general in
the process. As the Christians finally break down the gates, Orestes comes back to rescue Hypatia,
but Davus doesn't go with her. Tired of the life the pagans have given him, he grabs a weapon and
decides to join the Christians instead, even helping them demolish pagan statues. The entire
library is destroyed by the Christians while the pagans run to their homes, but it's not over for
Hypatia yet: she's informed that Theon's wound is festering, so she breaks down crying when she
realizes her father doesn't have much time left. Later, while Hypatia is checking the scrolls they
managed to save, she's visited by Davus, who tries to get busy with her by force. However,
he stops midway and begins crying, offering his sword to Hypatia to do as she pleases.
Instead of punishing him, though Hypatia removes his slave collar and declares him a free man.
Several years pass and now paganism is forbidden in Alexandria. Hypatia continues to teach the
sciences with Aspasius as her new assistant, Orestes has converted to Christianity like most
of his people and is the city prefect, and Davus has joined the Parabalani. When the elderly Bishop
dies, the position is taken over by Cyril, a more ambitious man than his predecessor. One afternoon,
the Parabalani attacks a group of Jewish people. Afterward, the leaders of both religious groups
ask Orestes to intervene, but he refuses to take sides, even when Cyril lies and says that his
soldiers didn't do anything. Afterward, Orestes goes on a boat ride with Hypatia, who wants to
test objects falling on a moving surface as part of the theory that says Earth itself is constantly
moving. Hypatia doesn't trust Cyril and thinks he's provoking the Jewish in front of Orestes on
purpose, but Orestes remains skeptical. Later at night, Hypatia tries to use the results of
her test to form a new theory, but she still can't make sense of the information she has. Meanwhile,
the Parabalani are discussing if Earth is flat or round, so to avoid getting in trouble with his
scientific knowledge, Davus tells them only God knows these things. Their talk is interrupted when
a citizen calls for them because there's a fire in town, so the soldiers run to help. However,
this turns out to be a trap from the Jewish, who lock up the Parabalani in a room and begin stoning
them. Only a few of them manage to sneak out and survive, including Davus. The next morning, when
they find the bodies, Cyril tells his people not to pity the dead but instead to pity the Jewish,
because they're executioners and already condemned under the eyes of God. He also claims that God's
will is to curse and exile, which provokes a Christian mob into attacking the Jewish population
in the middle of the city. After years of peace, a new massacre occurs. Hypatia goes to see Orestes,
wondering why there aren't more soldiers on the streets trying to stop the violence.
Orestes says it would be impossible to stop an entire city caught in a frenzy,
so Hypatia asks him to arrest Cyril for triggering such frenzy. One of the members
of the council steps in and explains to her that Orestes can't side with either band because the
other half city will raise against his government, but Hypatia still thinks something must be done.
If they don't, Cyril will keep organizing attacks and soon there will be nobody left to govern.
Seeing as they're reaching a state of emergency, Synesius returns to the city as the Bishop of
Cyrene to provide his advice. In the meantime, the Parabalani are taking the Jewish bodies
out of the city. Seeing all the spilled blood is making Davus doubt his faith, but Ammonius
reminds him they survived the stones because God wants them there doing exactly what they're doing.
Back to Synesius, he has a talk with Cyril and passes his message to Orestes and Hypatia.
Cyril is willing to talk about peace but not to discuss the religious war - he also demands to
meet Orestes at the library. This is on purpose because only Christians are allowed inside the
library, so this way the Jewish wouldn't have the chance to intervene. While Orestes discusses this
with his council, the Christians ask the Jewish to get baptized because it's only "a matter of time",
and Hypatia takes offense to such words because she isn't willing to give up her own faith.
The council makes fun of her for believing in philosophy, so Hypatia leaves as Orestes asks them
to stop. Later, Orestes reminds Hypatia that she wouldn't be an easy target if she became a wife,
but Hypatia still refuses to give up her studies. As she explains why understanding
the universe is so important, she realizes what part of her theories had been wrong,
and leaves Orestes to spend the night working. The following morning during mass, Cyril reads a
passage of the Bible that says women should dress discretely and shouldn't hold power over any man.
Then he declares Hypatia to be a witch, so every member of the council should reconcile themselves
with their faith for having listened to her. Cyril raises the Bible and asks everyone to
kneel to the word of God - every member of the council does so except Orestes, who leaves the
room without saying a word. The Parabalani have heard it all and wait for him outside,
calling him out for being a fake Christian, and Ammonius gets some stones ready to attack.
Davus, who isn't happy about this treatment of Hypatia either, tries to stop him, but Ammonius
just pushes him away before he begins throwing the stones at Orestes, inspiring the other soldiers to
do the same. Orestes' guards manage to get him away with only a few minor wounds. Hypatia wants
to visit him, but the guards advise her to stay inside because they can't promise her safety after
Cyril's accusations. The one that does get to see Orestes is Synesius, who swears his loyalty after
Orestes begins doubting him because he's realized that Hypatia had been right, Cyril had been after
him all along. Synesius agrees to help Orestes exile Cyril, but there's one thing he can't allow,
and that's Orestes' protection of Hypatia. Cyril may've chosen that Bible passage on
purpose but it's still God's word, so Orestes must prove he didn't become a Christian only for
political reasons. With tears falling down his cheeks and not knowing what to believe anymore,
Orestes kneels for Synesius. Meanwhile, Cyril is praying for Ammonius' spirit and declares him a
saint before reminding the Parabalani that they must get justice. Inspired by the Bishop's words,
the soldiers form a plan of attack: since Orestes is too well protected, they'll get
him where it hurts him the most by capturing Hypatia. Davus hears this and spends the night
wondering if he should choose his faith or his love. Hypatia is also awake this late at night,
and while discussing theories with Aspasius, she's inspired by a special wooden cone to
finally reach the answer behind so many questions: Earth doesn't move in a circle but in an ellipse.
The following morning, Hypatia goes to see Orestes to share her discovery, but he has more important
things to discuss. All the council members that aren't Christian yet will be baptized in public,
and Orestes and Synesius would like Hypatia to do the same. However, Hypatia refuses to do so, even
when Orestes cries and begs, saying he needs her to defeat Cyril. But in Hypatia's eyes, Cyril has
already won. Back to Davus, he decides to drop his sword and find Hypatia to warn her of the ambush.
Unfortunately, when he arrives downtown, it's too late: the other Parabalani have already found her
and captured her. Hypatia is taken to church to be executed, and the soldiers consider the idea
of doing it slowly with knives. With a plan in mind, Davus tells them they shouldn't get their
hands dirty with impure blood, so he'll watch over her while the others go outside to pick up some
stones. Both Davus and Hypatia know there's no way out of this one, so Hypatia allows Davus to choose
the least painful option: asphyxiation. Davus kills Hypatia and leaves her body on the floor,
telling the soldiers she only passed out when they come back to stone her.
Then Davus leaves the building, refusing to watch yet more pointless violence.