I’m not sure what value this short documentary brings. It’s hand-wavingly about the life of Einstein, but mainly only between the time he left Germany and the resolution of WW2. But, really, it’s more about that time period than it is the man. It’s probably got about twenty minutes of semi-interesting Einstein content. And, really, if you are familiar with the history of WW2 and/or 20th century physics, it delivers little new information.

If you aren’t familiar, you might learn a few things. But mainly only that Einstein’s intersection with the atomic bomb was coming up with a cool formula and writing a letter to Roosevelt about the topic. Everything else in the doc might be interesting, but it’s only tangentially about the man.

Is the doc’s history of the run-up to the atomic bomb any good? No, not really. Again, if you are unaware of the history, you might learn something… but the pre-war years, the war years, the development of the bomb, and the aftermath are such a big topic, a tiny 70 minute documentary can’t – and doesn’t – remotely do it justice. And the film has an “out” in that it doesn’t have to cover the invention of the bomb anyways… Einstein wasn’t there. It’s a huge empty hole in the plot.

I’m not sure why this doc exists in this format, with this hazy focus, and at this length. It serves little informational value… either you already know all this or you don’t… and if you don’t, you aren’t learning much. There are surely much better docs and fictionalized accounts out there.

Score: 66