A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning a slave who turns to the rising tide of Christianity in the hope of pursuing freedom while falling in love with his mistress, the philosophy and mathematics professor Hypatia of Alexandria.
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 the 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.Written by
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Bird's-eye and satellite images are used to contrast the story's earthly developments and the universe Hypatia tried to disclose. These images show 400 AD Alexandria along with modern man-made Suez Canal, Assuan Dam, Lake Nasser, and Toshka Lakes.. See more »
Quotes
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.
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Fascinating look into a view of the struggle between religion and scientific morality but the script needed a good rewrite in order to get a firm hold of the subject matters it raised. Some of the themes raised by the script does not gel in certain scenes and a few of the characters are thinly drawn out and are more caricatures than human beings. Rachel Weisz however does lift this move above its short comings with a brilliant and moving performance that captures the struggles of a woman trying to bring sense to a world on the brink of the Dark Ages and her performance as well as the performances of her costars ( Oscar Isaac, Max Minghella and Ashraf Barhom) makes you stay until the tragic end.
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Fascinating look into a view of the struggle between religion and scientific morality but the script needed a good rewrite in order to get a firm hold of the subject matters it raised. Some of the themes raised by the script does not gel in certain scenes and a few of the characters are thinly drawn out and are more caricatures than human beings. Rachel Weisz however does lift this move above its short comings with a brilliant and moving performance that captures the struggles of a woman trying to bring sense to a world on the brink of the Dark Ages and her performance as well as the performances of her costars ( Oscar Isaac, Max Minghella and Ashraf Barhom) makes you stay until the tragic end.