EINSTEIN AND THE BOMB
UK, 2024, 78 minutes, Colour and Black and white.
Aiden McArdle, Andrew Havill, Helena Westerman, Rachel Barry, Simon Haines, Leo Ashizawa, James Musgrave, Simon Markey.
Directed by Anthony Phillipson.
In world cinema, 2023 was the year of Oppenheimer, the Manhattan Project, the background to the project, Los Alamos, the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although a minor presence in Christopher Nolan’s award-winning film, Albert Einstein’s influence is strong, scientists admiring him, the theory of relativity, the splitting of the atom, Einstein’s concern about Germany having nuclear power and his letter to President Roosevelt, but not a at Los Alamos, considered a security risk. He was played by veteran British actor, Tom Conti.
This documentary, in fact, a document-drama, was produced by the BBC studios and distributed by Netflix. Audiences watched it in the aftermath of Oppenheimer. It offers a brief overview of Einstein, as a person, as German, as Jewish, as a scientist and mathematician, his career. For many audiences, this is an opportunity within a brief running time to focus on Einstein and his 20th-century influence. However, quite a number of bloggers expressed great disappointment at the brevity of the film, brief treatment of some issues, especially with the title focusing on the bomb and no mention of the atomic bomb until 20 minutes before the ending of the film. Perhaps they were expecting and Einstein equivalent of Oppenheimer.
A note at the beginning indicates that the spoken and written words attributed to Einstein are all authentic, spoken and written by him.
Important for this kind of documentary is the range of film footage available. And, a great deal is inserted throughout the film, even back to Einstein in his early years, the time of World War I, his science career in the 20s, the crisis in the 30s and his having to leave Hitler’s Germany, his taking refuge in England, his making a transition in sailing to the United States, taking up his position at Princeton. There are only glimpses of his wife in footage and photos. But, there is sufficient footage to build up something of an image of a Einstein himself.
But the film opts for the drama aspect of docudrama, with Irish actor Aiden McArdle playing Einstein – and he had played Einstein also in the 2005 television movie, Einstein’s Big Idea, exploring the background of E=MC2 and the consequences for the splitting of the atom as well as situating Einstein’s exploration in the context of other scientists including Faraday.
McArdle is made up to look like Einstein, short, pudgy, wild hair… The main sequences for the drama focus on Einstein’s leaving Germany in 1933, his being supported by British Parliamentary Commander, Oliver Locker Lampson, staying in the hut in Norfolk, with two female bodyguards who bonded with him. There is a sequence where sculptor Jacob Epstein comes to sculpt his head.
The documentary uses the device of having a date and then tracking backwards or forwards indicating the background to the particular aspect of Einstein’s life or career that is being focused on, scientist discoveries in the 1900s, World War I, American tours, his speech and the Albert Hall affirming his Jewishness, his later life in the US. There are also scenes of Hitler, denunciation by Goebbels, the burning of books, Krysstalnacht…
As regards the bomb, the film devotes 20 minutes to Einstein’s wariness of German developments, his letter to Roosevelt, the aftermath of the bomb, the repercussions on his sensitivities, his work for peace.
Not an equivalent of Oppenheimer but an 80 minutes introduction and overview of the life and work of Einstein.
