The historical movie however is set in Roman Egypt and centers around the life of Hypatia, a female astronomer-philosopher in a time where there are Christian fundamentalists bent on denouncing all other religions through violence where necessary. Hypatia is played by the incredibly beautiful Rachel Weisz. (I first noticed Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener (A 10/10 movie in The Slog Reviews) for which she received an Academy Award for her role.)
The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Hypatia is the daughter of the head of Alexandria's fabled library and she teaches philosophy to a group of men (including slaves). Her slave, Davus, is madly in love with her and as is 1 of her students, Oreste. But Hypatia makes it abundantly clear that she is not interested in men by returning Oreste's gift of a song and musical instrument with a cloth stained with her monthly blood. In the movie, the Christians are shown to be fanatical zealots hell-bent on persecuting those of a different faith and the Christians storm and destroy the fabled library and its contents when those who believe in the Roman Gods take refuge behind the library's walls. Hypatia escapes the looting and murder by the Christians and is shown to be the woman behind Oreste who rises to become the Prelate of Alexandria. He is shown to use her words and to bow to her counsel. She also sets free Davus during the looting and he becomes one of the sword-carrying Christians. He doesn't forget her however and tries to warn her when he overhears the other Christian planning to harm her because she states openly that she believes in philosophy when asked if she believes in God. Oreste is shown to cave in to the pressure by the Christians zealots and asks Hypatia to state her belief in God, failing which he would not be able to speak to her any longer. The movie makes it clear that he is torn between the deep love and respect for Hyptia and the need to placate the rising forces of Christianity, in particular, their crazy-looking leader, Cyril. Hypatia decides to leave his protection and his palace and walks out on the streets of Alexandria where the Christians capture her. Davus her slave sees her being captured and follows them to where they take her - the ruins of the fabled library. There, they strip her, and almost skin her alive but Davus saves her by telling them not to stain their hands with impure blood. The Christian zealots then rush out to get stones to stone her to death and during the time they are gone, Davus suffocates her with his hand across her mouth and nose. He tells the Christian zealots that she fainted when they return and walks away as they stone her inmobile body mercilessly.
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