‘Einstein and the Bomb’ Netflix Review - Weapon of War

Einstein and the Bomb looks like the work of a filmmaker who walked out of Oppenheimer thinking, "Hey, Albert Einstein was reduced to a cameo in this film!" So what does he do? He makes his own movie about Einstein and his role in creating the atomic bomb. But director Anthony Philipson and writer Philip Ralph cannot hit the viewers with the same incidents. So they tweak their story and start with the tension between Einstein and Hitler - how the brilliant scientist (Aidan McArdle) fled Nazi Germany and found accommodation on a private land owned by Locker-Lampson (Andrew Havill).

This movie does hero-worship in the documentary format. The filmmakers put Einstein on a pedestal. He is not seen as a human but as a "scientific" Jesus. He was in so much pain because the world was in so much pain. Jews suffered under Hitler's rule, and Einstein's heart bled for the injustice committed against them. McArdle gives an external performance. His countenance is filled with too much sadness. His expressions are in sync with the overall pompous tone of this film. Every image, every line, is impregnated with self-importance. Einstein cracks a few jokes at certain places, but Einstein and the Bomb is no laughing matter. The very first scene itself comes with an air of affectedness, which only reveals the hollowness present in every scene, every word, every inflection. When a sculptor asks Einstein if he could put out his pipe, the scientist says, "I would rather view the individual in a fog and semi-darkness than in the light." Jeez man! You could have just said no.

But it's lines like these that reveal the shallow image of Einstein that exists in the minds of the filmmakers (Philipson and Ralph are also like that sculptor, but they make their Einstein model using the tools of cinema). They present him as one of those "pretentious geniuses" who one could admire from a distance but would never like to stay in their company for more than two minutes. Philipson, though, is in awe of this theoretical physicist, so much so that the only thing you take away from this documentary - that contains words from Einstein himself - is, "This man was brilliant!" This is hardly surprising. Moreover, you know the movie is not working when your focus shifts away from the main subject and lands on his two beautiful female bodyguards named Barbara (Helena Westerman) and Margery (Rachel Barry). How did they end up in this field? What do their parents think about their professional choice? How many men have these two women killed? Someone should make a documentary about these ladies.

So, who should watch Einstein and the Bomb? It could satisfy those people who had stupid issues with Oppenheimer. Were you irked by the fact that Christopher Nolan didn't show the destruction of Hiroshima? Were you waiting for Einstein to show his tongue? Well, Einstein and the Bomb will meet your expectations. Hey, it also shifts between black and white and color, like Oppenheimer!

Final Score- [3/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times