This week we’re featuring the latest drama from Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenabar, Agora (Saturday 28^th April, 8.30pm). A sweeping historical story that takes in the science, politics, philosophy and religion of Alexandria in the 4^th century, Agora tells the story of Hypatia, a feminist - Ancient Egyptian style.

Amenabar and co-screenwriter Mateo Gil have successfully crafted a story based on what little is known about Hypatia; she was a bright, beautiful, acclaimed mathematician, astronomer and teacher who dedicated herself to her work rather than live a conventional married life.  

She lived in a tumultuous period with Jews and Christians battling on the streets under Roman leadership, and Amenabar does a spectacular job of bringing Alexandria to life with impressive art direction and costumes, easy to understand science and social, political, and religious themes still relevant today.

Rachel Weisz is utterly charming and passionate as Agora, and it’s this that drives the story through both the quiet and introspective moments when Hypatia attempts to unravel the mysteries of the Universe, and the bloody and brutal street battles. But, for all this passion I found Agora a little hard to connect with - perhaps due to Amenabar’s observational tone. While I really wanted to get carried away by Hypatia’s ferocious passion, I just couldn’t, but as far as bringing history to life, it’s a visual treat.

Moving forward in time a little now, Mozart’s Sister is set in 1793 and screening Tuesday 24^th April, 8.30pm. As the title suggests, this is the story of child protégé Mozart Wolfgang’s older sister Nannerl (Marie Féret). Nannerl was a talented violinist, singer, harpsichordist and budding composer whose talent, in keeping with the social mores of the day, was stifled for her brother to shine. Mozart’s Sister is a family affair, directed by Marie Féret’s father René Féret, and a sweet story of a young woman dealing with the gender limitations of the time.

My final highlight for the week is the intriguing documentary Lesson Plan (Thursday 26^th April, 8.30pm), which looks back on the Third Wave experiment that took place at Cubberly High School in Palo Alto, California in 1967.

The experiment was conducted by young teacher Ron Jones in an attempt to teach his students about the origins of fascism, and help them answer the question many high school students ask when studying the Holocaust - how did the German people let this happen? Basically, he turned his students into a fascist group called the Third Wave, made them inform on each other, and, as the now ex-students claim in the documentary, ended up being a rather terrifying experience that has stayed with them their whole lives.



It seems,they learnt their lesson!

Enjoy.