Theon

Agora (2009)

Actors: Rena Hanover (miscellaneous crew), Michael Lonsdale (actor), Nacho Ruiz Capillas (editor), Jay Simon (miscellaneous crew), Dario Marianelli (composer), Alejandro Amenábar (writer), Rachel Weisz (actress), Gabriella Pescucci (costume designer), Alejandro Amenábar (director), Álvaro Augustín (producer), Carmen Soriano (miscellaneous crew), James Ordonez (miscellaneous crew), Fernando Bovaira (producer), Richard Durden (actor), George Harris (actor),

Plot: Alexandria, 391 AD: Hypatia teaches astronomy, mathematics, and philosophy. Her student Orestes is in love with her, as is Davus, her personal slave. As the city's Christians, led by Ammonius and Cyril, gain political power, the institutions of learning may crumble along with the governance of slavery. Jump ahead 20 years: Orestes, the city's prefect, has an uneasy peace with Christians, led by Cyril. A group from the newly empowered Christians has now taken to enforce their cultural hegemony zealously; first they see the Jews as their obstacle, then nonbelievers. Hypatia has no interest in faith; she's concerned about the movement of celestial bodies and "the brotherhood of all". Although her former slave doesn't see it that way.

Keywords: 4th-century, 5th-century, alexandria-egypt, ambush, ancient-egypt, ancient-world, antiquity, aristotle, asexual, assassination
Genres: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance,
Taglines: Alexandria, Egypt. 391 A.D. The World Changed Forever

Quotes:

Hypatia: Synesius, you don't question what you believe, or cannot. I must.

Hypatia: [Looks up at night sky] If I could just unravel this just a little bit more, and just get a little closer to the answer, then... Then I would go to my grave a happy woman.

Heladius Dignitary: The majority of us here... have accepted Christ. Why not the rest of you? It's only a matter of time and you know it.::Hypatia: Really? It is just a matter of time?... As far as I am aware, your God has not yet proved himself to be more just or more merciful than his predecessors. Is it really just a matter of time before I accept your faith?::Heladius Dignitary: Why should this assembly accept the council of someone who admittedly believes in absolutely nothing?::Hypatia: I believe in philosophy.

Hypatia: Ever since Plato, all of them - Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Ptolemy - they have all, all, all tried to reconcile their observations with circular orbits. But what if another shape is hiding in the heavens?::Davus: Another shape? Lady, there is no shape more pure than the circle; you taught us that.::Hypatia: I know, I know, but suppose - just suppose! - the purity of the circle has blinded us from seeing anything beyond it! I must begin all over with new eyes. I must rethink everything!... What if we dared to look at the world just as it is. Let us shed for a moment every preconceived idea - what shape would it show us?

Davus: I was forgiven but now I can't forgive.::Ammonius: Forgive? Who the Jews?::Davus: Well Jesus pardoned them on the cross.