Agora

Richard Dower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbuEhwselE0

^ visually, this is looks very impressive!...it looks like a BIG movie, but is it any good?. I love any ancient Rome/Greek movies like this

Galvasean

Looks pretty good. i'm a big Roman-greko fan myself.

krudler

I tried to watch it on a plane a few months ago but was too knackered and its not a small screen movie,what i watched of it seemed good though. took its sweet time coming out I saw a cinema poster for it in Spain well over a 18 months ago I'd say, strange it got released in other countries first given Weisz is a pretty big name actress.

Richard Dower

I'll watch it later on and report, it's IMDB rating is pretty good.

Goldstein

Awesome movie.

It feels a bit like a Spanish version of an epic hollywood historical movie that incorporates its best features and discards most of its worst ones. It's very much the story of Hypatia's struggle and thirst to understand the heavens amid the broader religious and political upheaval, as opposed to the "have a big war" type of movie these often turn into.

Facinating and brave reversal of some of the usual cultural & religious clichés too. You can see the reasons why it was unjustly shunned in the US for a movie of this quality.

Alexandria was beautifully reconstructed - The library, the lighthouse, the statues etc. The set design was stunning leaving you wondering how they filmed certain scenes at all. Very nice array of varied compositions/techniques/tracking shots used throughout.

I'm not one for often complementing visual effects but credit where it's due - near seamless integration - outstandingly executed. Your only real clue that you're looking at some VFX is the assumption that you would have heard if Spain went bust re-building Alexandria for this movie.

Richard Dower

A visually STUNNING movie, you'd be hard pressed to find a movie of this calibre this side of $200 million if it was an American movie. The visuals are just astonishing!, the attention to detail, sets, production design....i simply could not tell the difference between sets and CGI, such is the quality.

From what i gather alot of it was practical, sets, Axandria reconstructed, Costumes - this has "blockbuster" written all over it. The story was very engaging from start to finish, the acting was very solid all round.

What's interesting is the juxtaposition of religion vs. science, how Christianity and the word of god is used to kill, persecute pagans and jews or any other faith. How science and philosophy was considered blashemy, how Hypatia was labeled a witch and condemned to death for suggesting the Earth was not the center of the universe and that the Earth had an eliptical orbit around the sun.

I understand why this movie did not hit further then Europe, it paints Christians as killers and a gang of thugs if anyone dare not follow the word of god. It's an utter scandal a movie of this quality and calibre has been overlooked by a wider audience.

I hope by seeing this thread other Boardsies give this movie a shot...if nothing else for the stunning visuals, for those wanting action....it has quite a bit, there are lots of scenes of huge crowds on the rampage. There are literally thousands of extras and they ain't CGI.

Rare i give 5/5 but this is pure class!

L31mr0d

Yeah, I'd recommend it.

I found it infuriating more than anything, which I suppose is the films point.

The destruction of the Library had me flaring my nostrils in particular, and also the realization that we are still in the same quagmire of bureaucratic red tape and state/religious entanglement today, some 1.6 millenniums later

TheIrishGrover

Richard Dower wrote: »

....I love any ancient Rome/Greek movies like this

"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? Joey, have you ever been in a... in a Turkish prison?" :pac:

Galvasean

Based on the feedback here I'll have to check it out. Is it due for release soon?

TheIrishGrover

Not a huge fan of the whole swords-n-sandles genre but I might give this a look. Looks interesting enough. I like Rachel Weizs Thought for a bit there that it was an older film finally getting a relaease. Rachel Weisz looks younger and I could have sworn that was a much younger Rufus sewell but apparently not (2009)