Einstein and Eddington (2008)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Brilliant and touching

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This movie had a lot of potential I think to get people who arnt much into science or astronomy and truly captivate them, unfortunately I don't think it does nearly as much as it could have. Instead it focuses too much imo on the love stories and the way it rearranges history and adds much inaccuracy for the sake of the story when the way it really went down in history was just as exciting, if not more in many parts. Still, the movie is enjoyable, the characters are fairly well developed and the story is engaging all the way until the end. I liked the dynamic between country vs the betterment of sciences for all and really enjoyed Eddington's fight and struggle with the university. I did think some of how the characters explained and reacted to the science felt unnatural in dialog. There probably could have been more creative ways to incorporate it but think it did a good job of explaining it to the layman and explained it well to get people interested in relativity and/or cosmology. If you want a history lesson this is the movie for you. The way events occurred is all out of sorts. (Spoilers) Things like the expedition did happen but there was several explanations years before including one during the war and one in America. The one in America was successful and got calculated, but it showed that Einstein was wrong! However the equipment used in the expedition was not the best (the shift is very very small) the other expeditions didn't turn out because of clouds, rain or were left after the people got kicked out of Russia because of the war, The American results were going to be published but right before they did, word got there that Eddington's results from the expedition came back showing Einstein right! While science accepted Einsteins theory, there rose a few concerns and it took another eclipse and expedition to Australia (where this time seven countries set up there) to fully accept Einstein was correct. Einsteins love story in the movie is fabricated in some parts, again the real story I think is just as interesting and would have worked just as well.

Its a long time since A Beautiful Mind that another biographic movie of scientist is made. And this movie, in fact is about 2 scientists, is a great work! The inclusion of Eddington is a good choice by the director. He could have made just a movie about Einstein, but the role of Eddington help to add different point of view but also show how, in real life, scientists collaborate to achieve a common goal. He has made this movie a true account for scientists in general . It is a well-made period movie. The emotional and social impacts ( of the war and the transitions of the era) upon the characters are expressed accordingly. Hence, this movie manages to balance the science side and the human side of the lives of both einstein and eddington. In fact it is probably the first movie about scientists that makes the subject look pretty human, and a character than the audience could actually relate to

Andy Serkis was the biggest problem for me in this film. Because he spoke nothing like Einstein (whom I've often heard in clips)--and projected nothing of the personality I've read about--that portion of the film really threw me off. Other actors have decided to neither take coaching to speak like or change themselves to look like the famous characters they portrayed; but Serkis took that one step further by changing his character's basic personality too--and often portrayed Einstein as a canny clownish elf! I felt the casting was a mistake, and the acting was a throw-away. What a shame.David Tennant was fine, though. And discovering the laws of physics and development of what went on in the early years of the last century was thrilling--if over-dramatic in some places.

Einstein and Eddington is a very entertaining TV movie: well written, with decent cinematography and above average acting. David Tennant and Andy Serkis give really good performances as the younger Eddington and Einstein respectively and the remainder of the cast are outstanding. That said, I would like to comment on the misconceptions about Eddington's sexual preference and the ongoing debate about that. What sex has to do with the storyline is a mystery. Perhaps the homosexuality hinted at in the movie is there to gain a wider audience. In any event, the movie's intimation about Eddington's sexuality and the subsequent debate needs to be addressed. Everything I have read or was told about Arthur Stanley Eddington indicates that he was a painfully shy, genteel, devout Quaker and an active pacifist whose sexual preferences are UNKNOWN. To suppose that Eddington, or any other male for that matter, is a homosexual because they never married or died young, is an exercise in jackass fallacy; probably the most stupid deduction I have ever heard proposed. Such logic would also make every woman who never married or died young a lesbian. This is really dumb thinking, folks.Other posters and commentators have jumped on dialogue from the movie e.g., Eddington saying to his sister: "I really loved him!" as being prima facie evidence that Eddington admitted to his sister that he was a homosexual. First, for a person to declare that they love someone of the same sex, does not presume they are in a homosexual relationship with that person or that they are homosexual lovers. Second, people forget that these words were never said by Eddington himself and that they are actually just words put into an actor's mouth by a writer or a director. The fact is Eddington's sexual preference is UNKNOWN. It was never mentioned, indicated or hinted at by Eddington, his sister, his other family members, his friends or his colleagues at any time before, during or after his death. I don't understand the logic or rationale that because he never mentioned it, confirms he must be a homosexual. If Eddington was a homosexual it would be most unusual for him not to indicate this in his personal papers because homosexuals almost always leave behind some clear indication, or even proof, of their sexual preference. I cannot think of one homosexual who didn't. And Eddington didn't. Claiming Eddington is a homosexual sounds like just a lot of homosexual wishful thinking to me.Sadly, this inference in the movie and subsequent debate really deters from the terrific story of Eddington's (definitely heterosexual and academic) relationship with Einstein and the problems he encountered trying to prove Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. This movie would have been more dramatic if the makers had pursued Eddington's (and Einstein's) endeavours to find a repeatable scientific method experiment which would prove the Theory of General Relativity supersedes Newton's Theory of Gravity, as well as providing greater detail of the reactions of the German and English scientists and their inter-relationships with Eddington and Einstein. Eddington's battle with the Royal Society was monumental and went on for many years. Details of the science and the scientific debate would have made a more exciting and interesting movie and far more satisfying than having Eddington's character race his bicycle along a road next to a train, with a strange expression on his face, in order to bid farewell to his (undeclared) lover. It's just silly. While the movie clearly hints at Eddington's alleged homosexuality, it glosses over the Einstein's heterosexual aberration in his courting and marrying his first cousin - she was a first cousin his mother's side and a second cousin on his father's side of the family, a double whammy which gives new meaning to Einstein's relativity! Then again, I'm thankful because it really doesn't belong nor does it add to the real story. If the drama of the scientific debate had been followed more vigorously, instead of raising the homosexuality red herring, this movie would have been better for it and far more interesting. People seem to focus more on Eddington's sexual preferences than his (and Einstein's) genius and their scientific breakthroughs and achievements. And that is a tragedy.Nevertheless, this is a very good movie that I enjoyed very much despite these shortcomings. Enjoy!Rating: 4/5 stars