The chief reason to see this film is for Rachel Weisz's performance as Hypatia the philosopher. She is the main character and she gives an excellent performance. Whenever she is on screen you are riveted to the screen. Her excitement at discovery, her endless desire to learn, her ability to figure out the mysteries of the universe are fascinating and she makes them feel exciting even though we know it all already. Unfortunately, when ever she is off-screen there is nothing to hold our interest until she returns. The rest of the plot is a really blunt, unsubtle message about the dangers of religious zealotry blatantly inserted onto Hypatia's story to give it some sort of relevance. The sheer lack of subtlety and intelligence behind this message is annoying. The Christians are all bigoted, mindless, intolerant fools, and the pagans are not much better. Hypatia by contrast is presented as an atheist, which she certainly wasn't, and the only reasonable person left. I have never liked having ideas forced down my throat and this movie does that extremely roughly.
Hypatia has often been seen as a martyr to science which is really a shame since the history doesn't support that. In this movie she is basically presented as an atheist who doesn't believe in any of the gods which is just flat-out wrong. She was a Neoplatonist and what the Neoplatonists were known for was their incorporation of religion in their philosophy. The supposed atheism of philosophers is a myth that should really be discredited by now, and the Neoplatonists actually had miracles and spiritual elements in their teachings. That isn't to say that they had no scientific interests, but they incorporated them into a wider religious context. To have Hypatia speak out against religion in general was just wrong.
The Christian zealotry in this movie is extreme to the point of being utterly unbelievable and insulting. They burn all of the books in the Library of Alexandria because they are pagan filth. The actual event that took place at this time was the burning down of a pagan temple and it's library of religious texts. The Christians never touched the library. For that matter they never intentionally destroyed scientific or philosophical works, its just that the Dark Ages wasn't really the sort of time when they had much use for those tracts which led to many of them being lost. Turning her death into a primitive reaction to education is also bull. She was killed by a Christian mob it is true, but it was over a political conflict, not a religious one. The Christian elite was as highly educated as the pagan elite before them and this wasn't seen as contradictory.
Still, what's good about this movie is Hypatia. She is presented with intelligence and grace and comes across as an extremely likable person. Unfortunately the film is intent on removing her personality and making her merely a symbol. It is to the film's greater credit that in this, it fails.
Hypatia has often been seen as a martyr to science which is really a shame since the history doesn't support that. In this movie she is basically presented as an atheist who doesn't believe in any of the gods which is just flat-out wrong. She was a Neoplatonist and what the Neoplatonists were known for was their incorporation of religion in their philosophy. The supposed atheism of philosophers is a myth that should really be discredited by now, and the Neoplatonists actually had miracles and spiritual elements in their teachings. That isn't to say that they had no scientific interests, but they incorporated them into a wider religious context. To have Hypatia speak out against religion in general was just wrong.
The Christian zealotry in this movie is extreme to the point of being utterly unbelievable and insulting. They burn all of the books in the Library of Alexandria because they are pagan filth. The actual event that took place at this time was the burning down of a pagan temple and it's library of religious texts. The Christians never touched the library. For that matter they never intentionally destroyed scientific or philosophical works, its just that the Dark Ages wasn't really the sort of time when they had much use for those tracts which led to many of them being lost. Turning her death into a primitive reaction to education is also bull. She was killed by a Christian mob it is true, but it was over a political conflict, not a religious one. The Christian elite was as highly educated as the pagan elite before them and this wasn't seen as contradictory.
Still, what's good about this movie is Hypatia. She is presented with intelligence and grace and comes across as an extremely likable person. Unfortunately the film is intent on removing her personality and making her merely a symbol. It is to the film's greater credit that in this, it fails.