Rachel Weisz as Hypatia

[fljustice]

Agora is coming out this weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing what they got right and what wrong. Right up front, Ms. Weisz doesn't look anywhere close to 60, but maybe this is early in Hypatia's career. We'll see.

[Leo62]

I've seen it. She doesn't get any older. :D

Rachel Weisz is wonderful as ever, but I found the movie a bit slow.

[fljustice]

I saw the movie Agora on Sunday and spent the last two days writing my blog entries on the history behind the movie. Here's a short movie review: Amenabar as co-writer and director got the actual historical events pretty right. He has some of my favorite stories from the time: a fire-walking Christian who is hailed as a miracle-worker, Hypatia giving a rag stained with her menstrual blood to an amorous suitor; as well as the more horrific elements - the destruction of the Serapeum, expulsion of the Jews from Alexandria, and the ultimate demise of Hypatia at the hands of Christians.

There are many inaccuracies (see my blog posts for a lengthy discussion), but this is fiction/entertainment not a documentary, and Amenabar has every right to impose his artistic vision on his film. Many would interpret that vision as Christian bashing, but I thought it was a broader indictment of all fanaticism.

As to Rachel Weisz as Hypatia? Within the artistic vision of the film, I thought she did a good job. Amenabar chose to present Hypatia as a driven scientist, ignoring her much greater contributions as a teacher of Neoplatonic philosophy and Weisz delivered as a thirties-something career gal. Hypatia would have been in her mid-thirties in the 391 when the first part of the film takes place. After the destruction of the Serapeum, the film titles tell us it's "Sometime Later" which allowed Amenabar to fudge the nearly quarter century time jump to the events that took place in 414-415. So, no old age make-up, but couldn't she at least had a few streaks of gray hair?

For those who want a more extensive discussion of the actual historical events depicted in the film, go to my blog at http://faithljustice.wordpress.com/