VIDEO REVIEW: The Harder They Come

REVIEW: Agora

Agora

Director: Alejandro Amenabar

Year 2009

Agora is a poignant and stirring opus, displaying the harsh consequences when the clashing of faiths drive mankind to madness and turmoil against one another. This masterfully executed film hits the senses like a freight truck as it tackles some pretty weighty subjects and religious beliefs, all the while maintaining a cohesive and contemplative story that never fails to peak the viewer's interest.

The director of this film, Alejandro Amenabar, has crafted something very special between these beautiful set pieces and authentically reconstructed Egyptian landscapes. This is a far fetch from his previous films where he dabbled in science fiction with Abre los ojos, then with the haunting ghost tale The Others, and with his emotionally driven drama The Sea Inside. With Agora, he tackles a film that's steep in historical imagery and abundantly epic in scale with its purely engaging narrative elements.

Got it made, got it made, got it made! I'm hot for the atheist teacher!

The film takes place in 4th century Egypt in the city of Alexandria, now under the control of the waning Roman Empire. Cultural unrest has ignited among the people, inciting Atheists, Jews, Pagans, and Christians to clash over the right to claim religious supremacy. The atmosphere of this tempered and volatile time is captured superbly by Alejandro and company. The tension lies thick in the air as open disputes boil over to full out war between the various factions. Never has these ancient civilizations felt so real and brimming with life. I must say that the filmmakers have done a tremendous job in bringing this all into the realm of believability, with great use of lavish sets and subtle CGI work for the expansive vistas. This is one beautiful movie, that aches for someone to view it in all its eye catching splendor.

Hypatia and her father stroll past their favorite giant sculpture.

A statue of a man on the crapper.

The centerpiece of this story and the main balance point that keeps all of these chaotic proceedings chained to a streamlined narrative, is the character of Hypatia, played by the always beautiful and enchanting Rachel Weisz. Hypatia is a teacher, philosopher, and atheist, in a time where to not have a god is equal to death. Her beliefs and stubborn pursuit of scientific facts and truth, lay a conflicting path across the over encumbering beliefs of a rising force in the world, Christianity. These world changing events that are taking place at this time are shadowed by the intimate encounters between Hypatia and her students.

The most important of these interactions are between her slave Davus, played by the passive yet intense Max Minghella, and one of her top students, the ambitiously driven Orestes, played by a conflicted yet cocky Oscar Isaac. Both men give a great deal of range throughout the film and provide the depth that is needed to bridge the span of this lengthy film that stretches over several years of the Christians rise and inherent takeover. Without a doubt, the acting in this film is above and beyond anything that has come out in recent years.

Old man Peabody used to own all this land.

He had a strange obsession about breeding pine trees.

The tension that the filmmakers have been able to capture for this film is insanely palpable, throwing us right in the thick of this tremendously bloody and frighteningly savage battle between two opposing religious beliefs. The raw nature of these events are splashed up onto the screen for all to see, never holding back and never shying away from the horrible realities of what occurred during these turbulent times.

To believe that mankind could be so cruel to each other over something as silly as a personal belief in something, is quite disturbing and insanely warped, yet in all the years since, we still haven't learned a damn thing. It's easy to get worked up over this narrative and find a sympathetic thread to relate to from our own society, where bigotry, prejudice, and racism, still thrive. The filmmakers wisely bring this concept to our attention and hopefully in their bold presentation of this hot fire topic, shed some much needed light on this cyclical problem that keeps rearing its ugly head within the human race. In Alejandro Amenabar's epic masterpiece, Agora, he makes a bold statement to all of mankind, wake up.

Wave your hands in the air, and wave them like you just don't care!

There are some enchanting and haunting moments in Agora. Moments that make you step back from the film and all that is going on with it, and really reflect on the ethereal moment being displayed on the screen. The perfect example of these contemplative occasions, is when we are treated to some birds eye view shots from high above the city, looking down towards the throngs of people as they fight amongst themselves far below.

Whether you're religious or not, you get a great sense from these striking shots, that there is a greater being out there, watching over all that is playing out over his or her name. You almost get a sense that you are a god yourself, spectating over your creation as it slowly destroys itself. It's a high handed, yet a truly intimate moment that really propels this film into a whole other echelon of filmmaking.

Wow! I can see my house being ransacked from here!

Another moment of greatness comes when the Roman Empire has decreed that the Christians get full control of the Library of Alexandria, forcing out the Pagans and leading to the destruction of thousands of priceless writings and ideas collected over centuries of study. Alejandro depicts this catastrophic event with a bit of flavor and stylistic flare, by slowly flipping the frame of the shot so that it finally rests upside down, mimicking the way that the world has now been flipped on its head and all the teachings have been thrown out the window in pursuit of an at the time narrow and singularly driven belief in Christianity. I love this scene and commend Alejandro for making such a strikingly visual exclamation on such a pivotal event that greatly changed the evolution and mental development of all of mankind.

You spin me right round baby right round,

like a Roman baby right round, round, round.

All of these events swarm around the main characters of this film as they interact with each other and weave a more intricately and intimate story of their own that reflects the bigger picture of religious upheaval and unrest. Rachel Weisz and Oscar Isaac's portrayal of Hypatia and Orestes and their complicated love is rather intriguing and we're never given the typical hollywood romance that many historical epics fall into and in the end mistakenly focus on. Instead we are given a very humanized and real depiction of two people who rely on each other's wisdom and friendship to help guide each other through very trying times. We are never really given the distinct realization that they are an official couple or married or anything like that. It's compelling in its simplistic presentation and one that seems rather unique. The ambiguity of their relationship is quite refreshing and for me it felt that much more real.

Memories, of the way we were.

On the flip side of this happy couple, we have the slave Davus, who once rejected by Hypatia in a heated moment of confusion, grief, and anger, rejects his shackles of slavery and embraces the appealing teachings of the Christians. He sets out on an entirely different life that casts both Hypatia and himself hurtling into totally different worlds in both religious beliefs and moral encounters. Max Minghella plays Davus with such a diverse range, from his humble and passive life as a slave to his matured and contemplative inner struggle as a Christian that doubts his own religion. There's so many layers to his character and there's such a depth to the religious seesaw that his character goes through, that it really makes for compelling viewing.

Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.

Even without the semi-love triangle story, Hypatia's character is both intriguing and inspirational as she tries desperately to uncover the mysteries of the universe. She is determined to explain the rotation of the earth around the sun and to uncover the universal function of ellipses to a world that believes any talk of such things to be heresy and witchcraft. Hypatia is a brilliant and inquisitive mind in a world where questions are answered by faith and nothing more. The explanation of solving the cosmos pales in comparison to the impending events unraveling between the strong beliefs over religion. Weisz is absolutely spellbinding in her performance of a woman who was far ahead of her time.

This comes to no surprise because she has never faltered for a moment in the various roles that she has undertaken. Her portrayal of the terminally ill Izzi Creo in Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain, is one of the most outstanding performances that I've seen in recent years and it's one that shows just how capable of an actress she is. In Agora, she stays true to her tremendous reputation in delivery momentous performances that really tug at your soul and leave you wanting more.

I brought you all here to ask if I look fat in this robe. Well?

The brutality of this film is quite blunt and viscously portrayed, giving us a great sense of how it might have been during this dangerous time of change. We are shown decapitations, bloody stonings, and massive mobs of blood thirsty zealots as they slaughter anyone in their path that is not of their religion. It's a savage film to say the least, and presenting it in this manner greatly helps us believe that what we are seeing is as close to reality as we can get, unless we had a time machine.

The violence that we see in Agora is in your face, but it's not for show or shock value. The natural escalation of violence that inhibits the screen is always shown to help move the plot along and progress the ever expanding control that the Christian movement had over Alexandria in this moment in time. It's a very telling story of how so much blood was spilled in order for a single religious faction to exist, one that was supposedly formed to promote peace and love under one god. It's a mad, mad world.

It's rush hour in the city of Alexandria.

Agora is a film that has so many things to say yet brilliantly it lets us come up with much of the inner dialogue. It allows us to look inside ourselves and question what we are seeing on the screen. Whether we're Christian, Jewish, or whatever religion you practice, it's safe to say that we all have our own way of looking at the world and our own personal way of believing in something other then ourselves. This film revels in that unique and diverse notion that lies in all of us and presents us with a grand plot that touches on so many sensitive subjects, yet lets us decide on what is right and wrong.

From the cast, the sets, the direction, and the stupendous acting, the world of 4th century Alexandria has sprung to life giving us a story that is so compelling and filled with such drama, that it holds itself high among the filmmaking elite. Never has a film been so poignant in both its inner message and exterior presentation. I strongly recommend this film to anyone that loves period dramas on an epic scale and films that have a message that everyone must witness.

4 out of 5 stars   An Epic Film Showing the Clashing of Religions

REVIEW: Bullitt

Bullitt
Director: Peter Yates
Year 1968

Bullitt is a respectable cop thriller that came out in 1968, bringing about one of cinemas greatest car chases and possible the most famous. Now if you can believe it, this is actually my first Steve McQueen movie and I absolutely loved it. I've always been interested in the actor because of how highly Kimberly over at Cinebeats praises his work. She actually just recently posted a write up on Mr. McQueen in honor of his 80th birthday, so please check it out. She's always got a plethora of valuable info to spill.

In Bullitt, Steve plays a strong, but mostly silent San Francisco cop named (you guessed it) Frank Bullitt, who's searching for an underworld kingpin that's killed his witness that he was sworn to protect. The premise is simple and it takes its time to build, letting you get to know Bullitt as an officer of the law and as a human being. Peter Yates directs this film and he balances the screen time between Bullitt's business and personal life quite exquisitely, giving you enough information to care about the character.

Meet Bullitt, played by the iconically cool Steve McQueen.

The only other movie that I've seen by Peter Yates, was the 1983 fantasy film Krull, and the two movies couldn't be any further from each other in style and substance. Both are great films, but Bullitt is so calm and cool in it's delivery that it really sets it apart from the intrepid style of Krull, with its constant bombardment of fantastical shots and grandiose adventure.

In Bullitt, Steve McQueen's character never loses his cool no matter what the situation. He always attacks each problem with a long cool stare before he assess the situation. It's a mile apart from the frantic actors of today, but it's surprising and much appreciated to see such a classical approach to such a fervent role.

Bullitt gets the low down on the situation from assistant DA (Prick) Chalmers.

Bullitt's assignment involves protecting a witness for assistant DA Walter Chalmers, played by a ruthless Robert Vaughn. Chalmers tells him that it would benefit both their careers if every thing goes without a hitch, but Bullitt doesn't care about furthering his career in that sense. He prides himself on doing the job and doing it right, so Chalmer's underlying threats fall on deaf ears.

On the first night of protecting the witness, Bullitt feels like there's something wrong. He doesn't like the location of where their keeping the witness and has a strange feeling that this will be anything but a routine job. He leaves his officers in charge and goes to dinner with his girlfriend Cathy played by a striking Jacqueline Bisset, when the unthinkable happens. Two hitmen show up at the apartment complex where their keeping the witness, and blow the smithereens out of the officer on duty and the key witness. 

It's not a good day to be a key witness.

The sequence where this all goes down is shot with style and we're given clues as to how the hitmen get into the room, but these clues reveal for more questions on who helped them to gain access. It really is a great mystery that they set up and it's what sets our main character Bullitt into doing whatever it takes to find the answers no matter if it costs him his job.

A gruesome but beautifully filmed shot.

Luckily the officer and witness survive, but barely. They're both on life support and are each hanging on by a thread. Chalmers threatens Bullitt again, but this time he comes right out with it with no play on words. He blames the whole debacle on him and tells him that if the witness dies, he's going to have a field day with his career. After that great motivational speech from Chalmers, Bullitt heads off to follow the footsteps of the witness and to see what he did 24 hours before he was gunned down, hopefully leading him to the identity of the shooters themselves.

We are then given some amazing sequences of Steve McQueen traveling around San Francisco as he looks for clues to help him solve the case, all while driving around in a beautiful highland green 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback. Now I have no idea what all the fancy talk means, but my father in-law could talk shop about this car for days and show you how to take it apart and put it back together again blindfolded. All I know is that this is one impressive looking car and it's one of the main things people remember about this film. Well, the car and the legendary car chase that follows.

Steve McQueen, as he amps up the cool factor in his Ford Mustang.

Now we've reached the main event, the car chase. I was expecting some over the top crash course tour of San Francisco, where people are diving out of the way of the two cars as they topple over parking meters and send old ladies and their grocery bags flying into the air, but luckily what I got was a really down to earth car chase, stuck in reality and filmed lovingly as it showcased the practical stunts on display. We've become so saturated with the hollywood car chase and all its CG glory, that we've forgotten that the real thing is just as spectacular and quite majestic as we watch the two metal wonders skim across their concrete terrain at break neck speeds.

McQueen tails the bad guys.

The most impressive part about this chase sequence is the fact that Peter Yates keeps the editing to a minimum. We are treated to long shots of the cars weaving through traffic and climbing the steep streets of San Francisco. The city is a great playground for the chase to take place in and Yates uses the unique location it to its fullest by placing the camera inside of the car and giving us a first person view of the action from behind the wheel. We feel the car plummet down the street only to be yanked up violently as it hits a flat intersection. It's a wild ride and there's nothing like it.

Look at that baby go!

Not only are we given the picturesque views of the metropolis, but the chase takes us out of the congested city and into the countryside as Bullitt continues to follow his prey. It really gives an epic scope for the chase when we're confined to the grid of the dense city streets and then are unleashed out into the open roads with nothing but clear skies in all directions. This is where we're shown just how powerful these cars are when their kicked into high gear.

Just one of the tense moments in this epic car chase.

There are so many great moments in the chase and they all come off in such a grand style. From the beginning of the entire sequence, when the hitmen are tailing Bullitt and then lose him only to be tailed themselves, up until the climactic ending, the pace of the entire whole builds until its traumatic crescendo where one of our cars meets its demise in a blaze of glory. It's such an amazing accomplishment and one that has stood the test of time and earned its place in cinematic history.

It didn't end so well for the hitmen.

Having killed the only leads to finding the mastermind behind the hit, Bullitt discovers that the man that he was ordered to protect wasn't really the right guy. Through some grounded in reality detective work, they pin point the guy and find out that he will be flying out of the airport that night so they decide to set up a sting.

McQueen knows his man is around here somewhere, but

until he finds him he's just going to continue to look cool.

Bullitt arrives at the airport and stakes it out. This sequence is done with a touch of paranoia as we are shown all the people walking by as they attempt to board their plane. It's another one of those tense moments made all the more clear by the intensity in the eyes of McQueen. You can see the dire need to catch this man under the cool disposition that he always carries in every scene of this film.

Finally, he catches a break and finds the man has already boarded his plane. Bullitt orders for the plane to be grounded and awaits for the plane to be emptied. As everyone exits the plane, Bullitt notices his man run out a back exit and Bullitt springs into action, chasing the man across the hazardous runway filled with jetliners as they threaten to flatten him. He loses him in the chaos and is then shot at by the man who sets off back to the airport's main building. Once there the man loses his cool and begins shooting at security guards after he realizes that the exits are locked and he's trapped. McQueen settles the commotion with a few well placed shots, ending the long and hard journey that he had embarked on to resolve the case.

The final death blow is delivered in style.

The airport scenes are a great choice for the final showdown and give plenty of interesting vistas for filming. The runway scene is especially atmospheric, with the runway lights the only thing illuminating most of the scenes. It gives a great sense of isolation for our main character as he hunts down this fugitive, grounding the character of Bullitt in reality. He had put his entire career on the line and if he couldn't bring this man to justice then he really would be left out in the cold, giving Bullitt consequences to his actions. The whole theme of integrity is what the character of Bullitt is grounded in. It was never about the fame or the glory that Chalmers enticed Bullitt with, but the fact of keeping his word and doing his job. That was what mattered most to him and that's what all noble characters are all about and I think what the center theme of the story is about. 

Don't think he's going to be coming back from that one.

Bullitt is a class above the rest when it comes to delivering a heart pounding action set piece by grounding it in the real world, with real consequences at stake. Yates focuses on the human characteristics of Frank Bullitt and I believe the film is better for it. You are able to see him struggle with each decision and recognize him as any normal man thrown into a situation that is extraordinary. He sticks to his beliefs and gut feelings and ends up coming out on top. Steve McQueen really earned his legendary status in this film and I for one will be checking out his entire catalogue in the future. If this is just a hint to the kind of performances he brings to the table then I've got a lot more pleasant surprises coming my way. As for the film Bullitt, this is a must see for anyone that loves a classic cop movie with a cerebral edge, teeth to bare, and tires to burn.

4 out of 5 stars      A film so cool only Steve McQueen could star in it.