DVD Pick: 'Agora'

Directed and co-written by Alejandro Amenábar (The Others, The Sea Inside), Agora (2009) is an English-language film that is an unconventional biopic of an unusual woman living in Alexandria around the end of the fourth century. That woman was Hypatia — played by Rachel Weisz in the movie — an intellectual whose interests included astronomy. But what makes the film's version of Hypatia interesting is that she lived and died in a time of religious and social turmoil. A case can be made that her death marked the end of Classical Antiquity.

Part of the Roman Empire at the time of the story, Alexandria had some impressive buildings, and the film focuses on one called the Serapeum, a temple dedicated to the god Serapis. The temple complex also included what was probably the world's best library. One of the big moments in the movie is when Christians destroy the library in the year 391.

Meanwhile, Hypatia teaches young men about astronomy, and she works on a theory of how Earth might orbit the sun. One of her students, Orestes (Oscar Isaac), tries to court her, but she rejects him in a way that is truly nasty. Also, her slave Davus (Max Minghella) sexually assaults her. Eventually, Davus and Orestes convert to Christianity, and both do what they can to help Hypatia when Christians accuse her of witchcraft.

Agora is strong on setting and themes, but there's not much dramatic tension, the plot meanders and the characters are thin. But this is a film of ideas, and it leaves the thoughtful viewer with much to contemplate.

The best extra on the Agora DVD is "Journey to Alexandria," a 63-minute documentary covering the making of the movie from preliminary ideas to post-production. In particular, you can see some of the work that went into creating the huge, lavish sets in Malta, where the film was shot. The documentary is roughly half in Spanish, half in English, with the costumer speaking in Italian. English subtitles are provided when Spanish and Italian are heard.

There are seven deleted scenes, with a total runtime of about 10 1/2 minutes. These are fairly interesting, including one titled "Life of the Parabalani." The Parabalani are fanatical Christian monks who sometimes do good, but they're also shown harassing a woman because of the way she dresses.

Alejandro Amenábar supplies a feature-length audio commentary track in Spanish, and the DVD provides English subtitles for it. He identifies the differences between what is known from history and the places where the film takes artistic license. He recommends to listeners that they read Carl Sagan's Cosmos, which contains some information on Hypatia.

Also on the DVD are storyboards and photo galleries.

Release Date: October 19, 2010
Total Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Some Violence

A pre-release review copy of the DVD was provided by Lionsgate. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.