Year released: 2009
Country: Spain
Language: English
Directed by: Alejandro Amenabar
Starring: Rachel Wiesz, Max Minghella

Let me begin by stating that my purpose here is to use reviews as a vehicle for teaching Correctionism, an authentic African American philosophy that, nevertheless, is helpful to all men regardless of ethnic background. In this light, Correctionism’s message is quite simple—Never has mankind been as wrong or as misguided as it is today! Not only must man realize where he’s gone wrong but he must also correct himself before it’s too late.

While I’m no fan of currently produced movies, one has to go back at least 10 – 15 or more years, in my opinion, for the best the industry has to offer. For my first review, I’ve chosen the Spanish-produced, English language movie Agora (Greek for public square) as both a good example of an important, historical drama as well as an excellent vehicle for teaching Correctionism.

Though Agora is an historical drama, it’s not by any means of the blockbuster or big scene variety; in fact, most of the action took place in the public square, hence the title of the film. The acting, especially from the stars, is well done; however, from a philosophical perspective the movie’s value lies in the fact that it focuses on a critical time in Western history when the Roman Empire was switching from Paganism to Roman Catholicism. The film gives us some idea of how these events affected the Romans of that era. It also illustrates important concepts in Correctionism, like the Great Decline of Civilization as well as how aggressive empires or civilizations often replace reality itself with certain hegemonic, religious or secular mythologies in order to brainwash and better control their citizens. This sets up another phenomenon taught in Correctionism known as the Dictatorship of the Dumbest because even the most developed civilization or society is only as good as its dumbest citizens; because among humans, as the dumbest go, so goes a society. The film Agora also reminds us of Massive Human Error (MHE); in Correctionism this is defined as—the cumulative effects of great mistakes and crimes committed by large numbers of people over long periods of time. This is best illustrated in the film in how aggressive empires must at times change the dominant religious or secular mythology to suit the often ghoulish demands of imperialism, regardless of the consequences.

Agora is set in 4^th century A.D. Alexandria, Egypt, then under the rule of the Roman Empire. Christianity had by that time become the religion of the Roman Emperors and was poised to soon take full monopoly control over God and religion throughout the empire. Against this backdrop, the film tells the story of the philosopher and mathematician, Hypatia of Alexandria, admirably played by Rachel Wiesz, her young male slave Davus and the Catholic Bishop of Alexandria, Cyril played by Max Minghella. These and other characters are caught up in the traumatic events associated with the Roman Empire’s conversion from its traditional religious freedom and diversity under Paganism to Roman Catholic religious, hegemony and intolerance. Interesting details of the script emerge such as Davus’ growing love for his mistress Hypatia, her desire to dedicate her life to philosophy rather than the usual affairs of womanhood as well as the events that would befall both mistress and slave as their personal lives are overtaken by the tides of Roman history. Though historically there were rival forms of Christianity practiced at that time in ancient Rome, the film makes no mention of them as only Paganism, Judaism and Catholicism are mentioned.

Ironically, citizens of the ancient Roman Empire, knew they lived in an aggressive empire so they were well aware of their enslavement to things like taxes and war. However, the citizens of today’s version of the Roman Empire, which now encompasses the entire Western world and beyond, often don’t know that they live in the latest iteration of the old Roman Empire, so they have little or no idea of what’s really going on. Aggressive empires not only must heavily brainwash and bamboozle their citizens, they must also tightly control their view of the world and mankind to keep the machinery of empire running without interruption. For example, pivotal events that are portrayed in the movie Agora heavily affected the worldview of succeeding generations as the old military Roman Empire was taken down only to be replaced by a religious Roman Empire that operated on various levels.

One particular event portrayed in Agora, the burning of the library of Alexandria ensured that the lives of subsequent generations of this civilization would be dominated by both evil and ignorance. The library of Alexandria served as a vast repository of the knowledge of ancient nations such as the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians and Chaldeans, for example. However, the bulk of that knowledge was lost when the library was sacked and burned as portrayed in the film. In aggressive empires, all that really matters is that the dominant mythos is obeyed without question, no matter how false or absurd it may be, and this is indeed the world the vast majority of us live in to this day.

In Agora, Hypatia, being a philosopher and mathematician, was not interested in religion personally which wasn’t a problem in the Pagan Roman Empire but things changed dramatically with the rising power of the Christians. Ironically, most people today are quite familiar with tales of Pagan persecution of Christians, but few are aware of Christian persecution of Pagans in ancient Rome once they came to power. In any case, the film also reminds us how a profound ignorance of history, still quite prevalent today, allows ancient bad guys to become today’s good guys.

This leads to another concept taught in Correctionism and that is the importance of attaining the big picture perspective in order to see both history and reality clearly; authentic history ever serves as a vital manifestation of truth and an excellent way to get our bearings straight in this world; otherwise we will have no idea where we’ve come from, how we got to where we currently are and, more importantly, where we’re heading.

The majority of the ancient Romans were, like Hypatia in the movie Agora, faced with the difficult challenge of accepting the Christian dogma or being subjected to persecution and even death, whereas the people of today’s version of the Roman Empire are by contrast largely born and reared as Christians or some other Monotheistic faith, so many can’t conceive of living in any other way. Moreover, to question these beliefs for many today is the height of insanity or even a crime! In this light, the movie Agora also reminds us how men are often pawns or prisoners of their beliefs, which means that the entire idea that what they believe could possibly be wrong in any way is not even an option! In Correctionism this phenomenon refers to the Paradox of Popular Belief which is defined as—no belief of man need ever be actually true as long as enough people believe that it is.

The movie ends with the triumph of Christianity over both Judaism and Paganism, which expose certain events today as a case of history repeating itself. The latest version of the Roman Empire is now in the process of changing the hegemonic mythos of the day. This means that the Christian, or Monotheistic, mythos is no longer useful, so it is now being replaced by the Godless mythology of modern science and technology.

For students of Correctionism, the aggressive empire is not only the greatest criminal enterprise devised by man, but we also understand that such entities have dominated the last roughly 6000 years of human history and counting; however, as with any long running racket, the great game of empire becomes increasingly difficult to maintain over time. The question now is, will the people of the current era finally realize what’s going on and, more importantly, will they correct themselves before it’s too late? The people of today’s dominant empire, just like those in the movie Agora, are essentially caught in the iron grip of a historical process that literally herds them from one hegemonic belief system to another. In the imperial paradigm influential and cherished religious and secular mythologies come and go, but the empire must roll on, regardless of the costs! While it’s common in today’s dominant mythology to associate the last roughly 6000 years of human history with the initial origin and steady rise of human civilization, the foregoing period is best described as a Great Decline of Civilization, characterized by steadily escalating warfare and slavery for our species instead. The movie Agora focuses on a pivotal time in Roman history, when the future of mankind was being decided just as it is today.