(Dir: Errol Morris, Appearances by Stephen Hawking, Isobel Hawking, Janet Humphrey, Mary Hawking, Basil King, Derek Powney, Norman Dix, Robert Berman, Gordon Berry, Roger Penrose, Dennis Sciama, John Wheeler, Brandon Carter, John Taylor, Kip Thorne, Don Page, Christopher Isham, Brian Whitt, and Raymond Laflamme)

Stephen Hawking was the normal member of the Hawking family. At least that is what is said about him in Errol Morris' 1992 documentary A Brief History of Time. But the truth of the matter is that what Hawking did with his life was not normal -- in fact it was closer to extraordinary. He has done so much in the school of cosmology -- the section of physics that cover the cosmos -- that he could easily be considered one of the most important voices in physics since Einstein.

In A Brief History of Time, we are not only brought to learn of the advancements that Hawking has been behind, but also to learn of what a life he has led. Not only does he think clearer than most people, he also does it in a body that can barely move -- he is interviewed through a computer program he invented that gives a synthesized voice based upon the clicks he makes on a controller in his one slightly workable hand.

Hawking has Lou Gehrig's disease, a motor neuron disorder that breaks down his body while allowing his mind to enrich. Before his diagnosis while in college, he was seen as an advanced student in physics, but it was the slow deterioration of his nervous system that caused him to emphasize his studies on one section of physics, which has made him a near expert (or at least as close to an expert you can be on the vastly unknown of space and time). His mother, hesitating to title it as luck, thinks that his disease is the main reason that he has done so much with his life.

Errol Morris makes sure that we know the man who we are only able to hear through a computer. Even though we never actually hear his true voice, we are consistently reminded of the everyday person he was 35 years ago. Hawking, who was a devout dancer and member of the Oxford rowing team, now seems like a broken doll sitting in a wheelchair. Without the testimony of those that have known him all his life (including his sister Mary and mother Isobel -- though we never hear from his wife), it is hard to believe that he has ever been a normal college student. Gordon Berry remembers him partying and having a great time with Hawking in Oxford, but can only now sit impressed with the genius that he has proven to be.

A Brief History of Time is only half his story -- filling in the rest with his theories, which range from the questions of time in space to the obscurity of a black hole. Based upon his novel of the same name, we only get the easier part of his theories -- the real heart of his beliefs could be understood by only a handful of people in the same field. Quantum physics is not the main edge of what we learn, we instead get the Cliff Notes side of Hawking's cosmology.

I am not an expert in physics, but the theories that go around have always interested me. For that reason, I was by far more interested in the ideas that Hawking had to convey than his story. I'm not necessarily saying that making a movie completely devoid of his story would have been better -- some form of balance is needed.

Errol Morris is one of the finest documentaries of our time. Through this film and his prior works (including the quirky Gates of Heaven about an animal cemetery and the history changing The Thin Blue Line, which helped get parole for a Texan falsely accused of killing a police officer), Morris has become known as a master of creating a visual sense that can coincide with his subjects. This film uses many computer generated models to show what Hawking means, like when he speaks of a black hole thinning and lengthening the body of the poor astronaut mistakenly lost in one.

Hawking is one person that has a story and has beliefs that should be shared with the world. That is one thing that Errol Morris should be remembered for -- not only has he got a man out of jail, let us meet the inventor of execution machines, and delved into the man that hired the famous post office shooter, he has also brought Stephen Hawking to the fore. In my mind, Morris has done almost as much in his lifetime for audiences as Hawking has done for science.

Rating: B+ / ***1/2 out of 4

--David Perry
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This review is also found at: http://www.cinema-scene.com/archive/volume-3-number-05.html

Recommended: Yes