Has anyone else seen "Einstein and Eddington?"

[onager]

A 2008 co-production of BBC and HBO, just now making it to the U.S. on HBO - TWO FRIGGING YEARS after it was filmed.

Yep, that would be Albert Einstein and Arthur Eddingon. Played by Andy Serkis and David Tennant, respectively.

And excuse my virtual shouting - but with JIM BROADBENT as Sir Oliver Lodge and Donald Sumpter as Max Planck!

How TF did THIS get onto HBO? Who was dumb enough to put up money for a cable movie about the General Theory of Relativity?

Excuse me again but - IF YOU LIKE SEEING SCIENCE ON TV, YOU MUST SEE THIS!!!

It sure packs a lot into 93 minutes - Newton vs Einstein, the horrors of WWI (with Lodge and Planck both losing sons to the meat-grinder of Ypres), the Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, Einstein's canoodling with his first cousin...

Oh, and stuff like this:

Max Planck: "May I ask you a very serious question? What if God were to say you were mistaken? If he said, "Stop. Newton is right."

Einstein: "Then I would thank God for his point of view, and we would agree to differ, and I would be left feeling very sorry for God."

I caught it on HBO On Demand, but it is being shown (sporadically) on the "regular" HBO channels.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995036/#comment

[salvorhardin]

1. I saw that when it first aired on the BBC

I thought Andy Serkis and David Tennant were both brilliant in their respective roles. Whoda thunk it? Gollum playing Albert Einstein and Doctor Who playing Arthur Eddington? Talk about bold casting choices. Seriously though, Andy Serkis' portrayal of Einstein just blew me away. You're right. Any self-respecting science geek will love this film.

[Tumbulu]

2. Sounds wonderful, thanks for posting

I don't get tv, so I'll look for it on Netflix.

[Orrex]

3. I really, really wanted to like it more. (NO SPECIFIC SPOILERS)

But in the end I can only give it about 2.5 stars out of four. Still worth watching if you happen to catch it, but not IMO worth making plans to see.

My big complaint was that it didn't get deep enough into any aspect of the story, and there were so many areas into which they could have delved more deeply. I believe that the film was 87 minutes, when it clearly deserved a full two hours or more. Maybe then they could have explored the characters and/or story more fully.

However, I thought that the performances were terrific, particularly Andy Serkis, whom I've found utterly grating every other time I've seen him. I'd also never seen David Tennant in anything (since Dr. Who makes me want to throw myself in front of a tram), but I was very pleased with his performance. I hear that he's a possibility for the role of Bilbo in the forthcoming The Hobbit film, and I think he'd do a good job with it.

If it comes on again, I'll watch it, but I wish that I'd found it more compelling. PBS (I believe) ran a long-format Einstein bio-pic a while back that I thought was rather better.

[onager]

4. I agree on the length and depth.

The HBO showing was listed as 93 minutes, but that included the credits etc. So probably about 87 minutes of actual movie.

You're right about the depth. Many of the scenes felt truncated. I was sitting there going: "Hey, wait a minute, I want to see more about that!" This would have really worked better as a mini-series, or at least a longer single movie.

Still, in an era of reality glurge and "science" channels promoting woo, this was a noble effort.

I liked the note at the end, that Eddington "spent the rest of his life trying to reconcile his religious beliefs with the new scientific discoveries."

PBS (I believe) ran a long-format Einstein bio-pic a while back that I thought was rather better.

I'll have to watch for that. I recently saw (and ranted about) the documentary Einstein, which I caught on the History Channel. It ran 2 hours and only covered the years 1905-1922. Fantastic, especially the easily understood explanations by working quantum physicists, science historians, etc.

[Orrex]

5. MINOR SPOILER (?)

I knew almost nothing about Eddington prior to seeing this film, aside from the fact that he'd tested/confirmed the theory. I didn't know about his love, nor his faith, nor that his work has been largely forgotten. I mean, I didn't know much about him, but I didn't figure that he'd been forgotten generally.


And you're absolutely right about HBO's surprising and refreshing choice to air this at all. At any given time, you'll find utter crap running on at least four of the HBO channels, so it's truly remarkable that they'd show Einstein and Eddington during the timeslot usually reserved for more purely intellectual fare, such as Meet the Spartans.