Agora

Agora is a 2009 English-language Spanish historical drama directed by Alejandro Amenábar from a screenplay he wrote with Mateo Gil. Set in Roman-ruled Alexandria beginning in 391 AD, it follows Hypatia, played by Rachel Weisz, a renowned mathematician, philosopher and astronomer who examines the weaknesses of Ptolemy's earth-centered cosmos and wonders whether the Sun might instead stand at its center. As clashes between pagans, Jews and the ascendant Christian population erupt into bloodshed, she fights to preserve the learning of classical antiquity. Max Minghella appears as Davus, a slave caught between his devotion to Hypatia and the swelling religious fervor, while Oscar Isaac plays her student Orestes, who rises to become prefect of the city and must confront Patriarch Cyril. Filmed in Malta in 2008, the picture screened out of competition at Cannes in 2009, became the year's biggest box-office draw in Spain and won seven Goya Awards, including Best Original Screenplay.