I
should probably start off by saying I remember next to nothing about
the science I learned in High School; however I've always been fond
of a good historical movie. This movie is about Albert Einstein and
Sir Arthur Eddington, a German theoretical physicist and a British
astrophysicist, respectfully. More specifically it's about the
evolution of Einsteins Theory of General Relativity during a time
when Germany doesn't care to look into any science they can't use for
the Great War and Britain doesn't want anything to do with the
country they are going to war with. At this time everyone held
everything Newton said was put on a pedestal – which stated that
Gravity was what held the universe together, but gave no reason why
or what it was. This left the idea that God was the reasoning for
Gravity, the why behind the what. The only thing Einstein has done by
this point was suggest that everyone was moving at it's own time, and
that time was not a universal standard measure. With no way to prove
or disprove his theory, the British scientist at Cambridge decided
his theory was not relevant to the real world, especially with a war
going on.
Sir
Arthur Eddington wasn't so quick to brush off Albert Einstein.
Instead he sent Einstein a letter posing a question: why was Newton
correct about all the position and orbits of the planets except
Mercury. What was different about Mercury that just eluded Newton's
otherwise correct theory. With that question as a basis, Einstein
created his Theory of General Relativity which stated that it was the
Suns gravity that shaped space, twisting it out of it's original
shape and changing how we view it. If his theory was correct it would
completely change how the world was viewed, but first it had to be
proven. That's where Eddington came in, to observe space to see if
Einsteins theory was correct. These two scientists who have never met
went against what each of their countries were telling them to try
and understand the world around them a little bit better.
This
was a made for TV movie, co-produced by BBC and HBO Films. For being
a made for TV movie, I was surprised by the cast for the film. Sir
Arthur Eddington was played by David Tennant(Doctor Who, Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Fright Night),
Albert Einstein was played by Andy Serkis(Lord of the
Rings, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Prestige)
and Jim Broadbent(Moulin Rouge, Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe)
plays one of Eddington's colleague. All three are rather big names
and all three were absolutely perfect in this movie. Andy Serkis's
Einstein was half crazed from his intelligence that was being ignore,
never going too overboard. He wanted more from the world than he was
getting, wanted to prove that he had knowledge that was worth
listening too. Jim Broadbents character played the main pro-England
character wonderfully. He thought that there was no way that Newton
could be proven wrong, especially by a German scientist. David
Tennant's Eddington was probably my favorite. He went against what
he's believed all his life – that God was behind everything –
went against his faith for the possibility that some scientists he
new met could be right. He played someone who was conflicted, hopeful
for the possibility of helping to discover a new theory but worried
about what this could mean for his Faith all while struggling with a
possible repressed homosexuality that David Tennant hinted at
perfectly..
My
only real complaint for his movie was that they didn't really touch
upon Albert Einsteins wife and kids very often. You saw them once
while he still lived in Switzerland before he moved back to Berlin
for his research, and once more when they came to visit him and his
wife found out he was having [another?] affair. You never find out
whether he and his wife split up or work it out, nor if Einstein
worked things out with his kids. As far as the audience knows, they
are out of his life forever and he doesn't seem to particularly care.
However that pales next to how much I enjoyed this movie. It felt
authentic and well thought out. All of their science talk was dumbed
down a little so I didn't so I didn't get lost in all the gobbldy
gook, yes still letting me learn something from it. This seemed like
a movie just about anyone could enjoy if they gave it a chance. It
has it's flaws, but the abilities of the actors manage to overshadow
any and all of them.
(Also: Wow I suddenly can't tab anything. that's super strange. I'll figure that problem out later.)
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