We are very very small, but we are profoundly capable of very very big things…

“Hawking” is a TV Film that came out back in 2004. I watched it a little while ago but then watched it for the second time last night!

 

It is, a simply GORGEOUS film! For a long time my knowledge of Stephen Hawking was sort of…general knowledge i guess, knowing who he is, hearing about him a lot and knowing he was crazy smart with physics! xD! This film, as it says at the start, makes up scenes of dialog, but it’s all based on true events and academic findings etc. I would have enjoyed this film anyway, but i will say, as someone over half way to a maths degree, my little logical brain pretty much had a party watching this film!

The film on one side is Stephen Hawking, from what i think is his 21st birthday (with events leading him to being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease), and then through the couple of years of his PhD. Through which he would go on to, with the help of his PhD professor (played by John Sessions who seems to pop up everywhere!) and fellow physicist (well he’s probably more than that, i’m not sure) Roger Penrose (who’s discoveries lead to him being knighted i believe), pretty much discover the Big Bang and the beginning of the Universe….despite grumpy ‘Steady State’ theory professor who’s very sure he’s wrong!

The other side of the film is now and again jumping to Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson being interviewed before they collect their Nobel Prize having, a good few years later, discovered the background radiation left over from the Big Bang thus proving it further! To be honest, they talk about a lot of stuff that goes over my head haha!! But it’s significant all the same!

You don’t need lots of physics knowledge to watch this film! I may study maths but i am not at an advantage in physics knowledge by any means, everything i’ve told you above is what i have learnt simply watching the film last night! (Without giving away too much of course!)

This is probably one of the first roles Benedict Cumberbatch got where people started paying attention to him, and by golly they’d be right to! I’m pretty sure he was nominated for a BAFTA for his portrayal of Hawking and he is bloody fantastic!! He goes from perfectly healthy at the start of the film and we see the disease have a huge effect over the next couple of years and i honestly don’t know how he does it but he does it perfectly! I hear Hawking told Benedict he was very good and very realistic, so i think that’s a pretty good review in itself!

He was given 2 years back when he was 21 and here we are 50+ years later and still counting, take that world!! Even if the most i’ve seen of him recently is in a “Go Compare” advert *facedesk* HAHA! I also adored his fairly recent cameo in an episode of The Big Bang Theory, brilliant!

I believe in the possible. I believe, small though we are, insignificant that we may be, we can reach a full understanding of the universe.