Agora - The pillars of heaven
Agora - The Pillars of Heaven is a film by Alejandro Amenábar , which was released in Spain on October 9, 2009 , with German cinema release on March 11, 2010.
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The film is about Hypatia of Alexandria (Greek Ὑπατία, * around 355 in Alexandria; † March 415 ibid), who was a philosopher, astronomer and mathematician; a person who really lived, but from whom not a single concrete mathematical, scientific or philosophical statement has been passed down that can be ascribed to him with certainty. However, the film is not a purely historical film.
Part 1
In 391 AD, Hypatia is a lecturer in philosophy, mathematics and astronomy at the library of the Serapeum of Alexandria . Among her students are, among others, Orestes, who fell in love with her, and the Christian Synesios . As a teaching philosopher and single woman in ancient Alexandria, Hypatia represents an exceptional social phenomenon, which is made possible by the high position of her father Theon in the library of Alexandria .
The city of Alexandria is part of the Roman Empire , and the Christian religion has already largely taken hold. Again and again there are clashes between Christians, Jews and members of the various pagan cults. A particularly militant Christian association are the Parabolani , who repeatedly provoke or attack people of different faiths. In the course of a dispute, the monk Ammonius thrusts his opponent into a fire so that his clothing ignites after he himself had passed through it quickly and undamaged. He wanted to demonstrate that his god protects him, while the gods of the heathen are not able to. Ammonius also threatens the protesting Theon.
Theon is appalled and upset about this incident and for this reason prohibits the practice of Christianity in his home. The slave Davus, who pretends to be a Christian in order to divert the anger of the host from another slave recognized as a Christian, he whips with himself. Hypatia, who had tried in vain to dissuade her father, tends to Davus' wounds. In doing so, she discovers a model of Ptolemy's geocentric view of the world that he himself made . She is impressed with his comprehension and lets him take part in her class.
During the class, Orestes criticized the intricacy of the Ptolemaic model with its epicycles and noted how imperfect creation appears to be. Synesios regards this remark as an insult to God , and a dispute ensues. Hypatia appeases her students by emphasizing the importance of connecting elements and fraternal cohesion, while violent confrontations are only for the mob and slaves.
One day when Davus is out in the city, Ammonius becomes aware of him. He aroused sympathy for the Christian activists in Davus by taking him to a sermon given by Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria, followed by feeding the poor, and impressed him with the claim that the prayer to Jesus saved him from being burned.
Orestes meanwhile makes a public declaration of love to Hypatia during a theater performance, which she rejects in the morning. Davus, who is also in love with Hypatia, sees this as an answer to his prayers that Hypatia should not turn to any other man.
Ultimately, religious conflicts escalated in the city. When Christians mock the pagan gods in the agora , they are attacked by the angry followers of the ancient Egyptian-Greek cult of Serapis. Hypatia tries to prevent this outbreak of violence, but fighting ensues in which her father is attacked and seriously injured by one of his own Christian slaves. When the Christians gain the upper hand with the arrival of the Parabolani, the heathen entrench themselves in the temple complex of the Serapeum. Roman soldiers arrive to restore order but cannot prevent Christians from continuing to besiege the temple.
During the siege, Hypatia finds the time to think further about the Ptolemaic model, which she believes is unnecessarily complicated, and is reminded by one of her colleagues of the heliocentric worldview of Aristarchus . Although this model raises new inconsistencies and is generally rejected, she begins to delve into this theory.
After reading out the decision of Emperor Theodosius I, the Roman prefect ordered an immediate end to the unrest, but at the same time ordered the pagans to release the temple complex and the associated library. Hypatia and her colleagues hurriedly take as many of the old scriptures as possible with them in order to save them from the excesses of fanatical Christians. In the hustle and bustle, she turns irritably at Davus, who then withdraws from her, offended. Then the crowd breaks open the gate and all remaining sanctuaries, scriptures and scientific artifacts fall victim to the destruction. Hypatia's father does not survive his injuries. Davus goes home, agitated, and sexually harasses Hypatia. However, he breaks off his rapprochement, is released from slavery by Hypatia and finally joins the Parabolani.
Part 2
A few years later the Roman government passed many laws in favor of Christians, and the public practice of pagan cults was punishable by the death penalty . Many pagans are then baptized Christian.
Orestes also converted and rose to become Prefect of Alexandria, Synesius became Bishop of Cyrene. Hypatia is increasingly devoting itself to her research and is looking for solutions to the contradictions that the heliocentric worldview seems to raise. Orestes, with whom she is still friends, accompanies her to one of her experiments. While on the one hand serious research is being carried out, on the other hand, during a discussion by devout Christians, the spherical shape of the earth is disputed because it contradicts religious scriptures.
In Alexandria, meanwhile, after a short period of calm, there are renewed outbreaks of violence, fueled primarily by hate sermons directed against Jews by the new fanatical Bishop Kyrill . After the Jews were pelted with stones in a Parabolani theater during the Sabbath, they retaliated against them and were then again bloodily attacked. A real pogrom ensues and finally the surviving Jews leave the city. Hypatia is appalled and asks Orestes to stop the violence. However, he declares himself powerless against the maddening mob and committed to loyalty to the Christians, as otherwise the stability of his government would be endangered. Hypatia bitterly countered that the Christian God did not seem to be more merciful than his predecessors.
Finally, Kyrill announces that he will take care of the situation and asks the Roman dignitaries to attend a service. In truth, however, what he wants is a test of loyalty and a demonstration of his power. He openly attacks Hypatia, who as a pagan does not take part in the worship service, through his sermon over a letter from Paul . According to the quotation of the relevant passages ( 1 Cor 14.33b-35 EU ), in which women are imposed silence and submission, he defamed Hypatia as a witch and asks everyone to affirm their loyalty by kneeling down and thereby distance themselves from Hypatia . Orestes refuses and is insulted by Parabolani outside. Ammonius eventually injures him by throwing a stone after Davus tried unsuccessfully to stop him.
Since Hypatia's life is viewed as acutely endangered, she is advised not to leave the house. Ammonius is punished with death for his attack on the prefect, but is declared a martyr by Cyril . His agitated supporters then demand retaliation. Orestes asks his former classmate Synesios to stand with him against Cyril. However, this demands from him an unconditional commitment to the Christian faith and thus implicitly a distancing from Hypatia, and Orestes gives in wearily.
At home, Hypatia continues to deal with the heliocentric worldview of Aristarchus and tries to get to the bottom of the remaining deviations from observations of the stars. Finally she came up with the idea of ascribing an elliptical shape to the planetary orbits instead of assuming the shape of a circle as before.
Orestes now wants to urge all remaining non-Christian dignitaries to be baptized and has also called Hypatia to him for this purpose. However, she refuses and explains that as a philosopher she always prefers enlightened, critical thinking and therefore rejects unconditional belief. She makes her way home again without a protective escort and is picked up by Parabolani.
Davus, who knew about the planned attack on Hypatia, ran after her to warn her, but was late. Hypatia is brought under insults in the former library, which is now used as a church, and there forcibly stripped to be murdered in front of the altar. Davus only sees the possibility of making a less cruel death possible for her. On the pretext that an unclean woman's blood would stain her, he prevents the crowd from peeling her alive. While the Parabolani are collecting stones outside, he obtains the consent of Hypatia to suffocate them so that the fanatics can then only stone their lifeless bodies .
Awards
In 2010 the film received nominations for the Cinema Writers Circle Award in the categories Best Cinematography (Xavi Giménez), Best Director (Alejandro Amenábar), Best Editing (Nacho Ruiz Capillas), Best Music (Dario Marianelli) and Best Film .
Also in 2010 there were the following prizes at Goya :
- Awards in the categories Best Cinematography (Xavi Giménez), Best Costumes (Gabriella Pescucci), Best Make-Up (Jan Sewell, Suzanne Stokes-Munton), Best Production Design (Guy Dyas), Best Production Management (José Luis Escolar), Best Original Screenplay ( Alejandro Amenábar, Mateo Gil), Best Special Effects (Chris Reynolds, Félix Bergés)
- Nominations in the categories Best Actress (Rachel Weisz), Best Director (Alejandro Amenábar), Best Editing (Nacho Ruiz Capillas), Best Film Music (Dario Marianelli), Best Sound (Peter Glossop, Glenn Freemantle) and Best Film .
Reviews
- Lexicon of international film : The opulently equipped monumental film, located on the border between antiquity and the Middle Ages, allows itself some freedom in its portrayal of the conflict between the ancient spiritual world and Christianity, which has advanced to the state religion of the Roman Empire. As a passionate plea for reason and humanism against fanaticism, intolerance and striving for power, it knows how to convince as well as a rousing epic about a charismatic, exquisitely played female figure.
- In an interview with SPIEGEL, the Polish historian and Hypatia researcher Maria Dzielska explains that, viewed from historical sources, the film Agora has little to do with the authentic, historical Hypatia. She believes the film falsely portrays the conflict that led to the Hypatia assassination as a clash between science and religion.
- The American writer and ancient historian Richard Carrier is enthusiastic about the film in his Agora Review blog: It was a superb film. And that's by every technical measure - acting, production, story, direction, editing, sets & costs. ... It should be used as an example of how to direct and edit a film for emotional effect, and how to accurately depict history while still elaborating the facts with plausible and moving fictions. (It was a great film. From the technical implementation, the production, the story, the direction, the editing, the sets and the costumes. ... It should serve as an example of how to make a film, on the one hand an emotional one To achieve an impact and at the same time to present the story precisely, whereby the design of the facts through imagined actions connects them plausibly.) Further in contrast to the Polish author mentioned here in the Spiegel-Online article, Carrier explains: Finally, the film is not about Christianity against science . To the contrary, all the religions in the film are completely indifferent to science (an accurate depiction). (The film is not about Christians versus science. On the contrary, religion is not interested in science - a correct representation). Rather, he sees in it: ... an obvious (and intended) analogy to the Middle East crisis ... (... an intended analogy to the crisis in the Middle East ).
Web links
- Agora - The Pillars of the sky in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- German website
- “Hypatia is stylized as a victim of Christianity” , interview on the film with historian Maria Dzielska on Spiegel Online
- Agora with criticism and extensive review of historical facts
- Thematic and aesthetic background information (pdf) from the Institute for Cinema and Film Culture
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Agora - The Pillars of Heaven . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2010 (PDF; test number: 121 768 K).
- ↑ Age designation for Agora - The Pillars of Heaven . Youth Media Commission .
- ↑ Agora - The Pillars of Heaven. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Interview on the film "Agora" on the Spiegel online portal : "Hypatia is stylized as a victim of Christianity"
- ↑ Richard Carrier's Agora Review Blog on the film