Where's the 'Brief'?

Rating: 4/10 (22 March 2015)

I don't know how much research has gone into making The Theory Of Everything. I don't know whether the walls and indoor decoration of Hawking's home were not only of the same time period but also pat to the last detail. Maybe the children of Hawking, in the movie, resembled the real Hawking's children. Maybe not. The point is, in this case, it doesn't matter how accurate the film was. That is because there is no real underside or revisionism or whitewashing, or cherry picking, in the very fabric itself of the Universe, er, I mean of Hawking's life. Everything is above board. Because of the lack of seediness in Hawking's life, the film comes across as quite authentic. Because most audience can know, they maybe can't all of the time, but they can know when they are being thought of as idiots. The Theory Of Everything respects its audience.
It was a fine decision to omit the early years of Hawking's life. Hawking might have had a normal childhood, but being insanely precocious, he must have been lonely. But given that most biopics want to include a duality of the man in private and the public figure, Hawking's childhood isn't relevant. To compare, The Imitation Game did correctly to show us young Turing's childhood problems and his abortive romance with Christopher. Like the 1982 movie Gandhi, The Theory Of Everything shows us the defining moments of Hawking and his triumph as a physicist.
These days the Oscar nominated movies have been gaining quite good soundtrack music. In these very average times, this is the one bright spot. The movie itself didn't move me. I don't know what the director could have done more. I think every shot was well calibrated and there must have been much thought and deliberation behind each decision. But one thing's the pity is that the physics, the subject matter and the touchy subject of atheism were not given more than a superficial whirl. The strongest scene was when Hawking is struggling in putting his sweater on and he has this epiphany that helps with his work. Such moments were rare. I must also say that the guy who plays Jonathan missed a chance to shine in a prominent role. He was not a very good actor. The performances could have made this movie better, but it was not to be. Hope this review has been helpful!