Agora

This movie was by far my favorite movie of the whole course.  Unfortunately, like in Cleopatra, the only female strong character ends up dying and everyone ends up hating her because she if a female that men, or just three men, look up to and respect. I was really upset when Hypatia died I was really hoping, with her being so smart, that she would convert to Christianity. I liked that for once Christianity was the one that was shown in a bad light but by having Synesius as representation of the good Christian that allowed for me to see that not all Christians were evil but that just particular group.  I definitely felt myself feel angry whenever Cyril would come on screen because I could not believe that someone who claimed to want peace on earth was twisting the bible into his word that would work for his advantage and I once again felt angry when he read that passage during mass directed to Orestes but then I noticed that I felt angry because I am so used to thinking that women can be whomever they want to be and are not oppressed or as oppressed by men anymore and it made me realize that being a philosopher in ancient Rome might not have been that bad but being a female philosopher in ancient Rome, especially a female that men of high standard admire and listen to would be considered scandalous and wrong.  I liked that even though there were fight sequences in this movie, they were not too gory and they were also not the center of attention of this movie.  I would have really liked the movie if in the end Hypatia would have accepted Orestes and married him and she would have converted and lived, but I am just one of those people that likes it when a movie has a happy ending.  I also felt that Davus was supposed to have a much more important influence in the movie instead of just being the one that killed Hypatia.  I also really enjoyed that all of the characters seemed a lot more complex then any of the other characters in the other movies; it was definitely something refreshing to see.