THE DVD
Video: The widescreen 2.35:1 transfer on Agora looks splendid, showcasing the muted color palette and the heavy production detail to great effect. The image is sharp and the blacks, particularly when gazing at the night sky, are good and deep.
Sound: A 5.1 audio mix of the English soundtrack uses surround technology very well, working through all the speakers in the larger scenes and properly centering the dialogue in quieter moments.
Subtitle options include English Closed Captioning and Spanish.
Extras: The Agora DVD offers two opportunities for director Alejandro Amenábar to address the audience, a director commentary and director presentation. The latter is a very short video introduction, recorded by the director just before he did the commentary. Both features are in Spanish with English subtitles, and they reveal the filmmaker to be a thoughtful, meticulous artist, and his explanations add depth to one’s understanding of his creation.
The hour-long “Journey to Alexandria” is a multi-part documentary covering the making of the movie, with specific segments on building the sets, the costumes, the characters and their historical origins, and the various stages of production: inception, shooting, and completion. You can play each piece on its own, or just run them all at once.
Seven Deleted Scenes run ten minutes, and they include a different prologue (more shots of the cosmos, essentially), alongside a handful of inconsequential trims (a discussion of Hypatia taking over the library, more romantic brooding from Davus, the aftermath of a brawl, the precursor to another brawl, etc.). A montage of the parabolani roaming the streets and enforcing their version of Christian law is the only thing here that I think would have added anything to the finished product, as it fully illustrates how bad they were on a day-to-day basis.
Though listed as storyboards, the gallery section is actually a collection of production drawings for the sets and the costumes–and it’s exceptional work, at that. There is also a photo gallery.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Highly Recommended. Alejandro Amenábar’s Agora is a rich and wholly satisfying historical drama. Rachel Weisz stars as the 4th-century philosopher Hypatia, who was at the center of scholarly thought in Alexandria when the social scales tipped in favor of the Christians and against the Romans. This complex narrative tackles both emotions and ideas, making for a movie that has a solid plot but that is also about something. Excellent performances joined with well-crafted sets and costumes make for an altogether excellent period piece, and some smartly done DVD extras make for a great overall package.

Source: DVDTalk.com