Yesterday I was able to eat out with some friends, Hannah and Hannah, followed by the cinema which was lovely to have a chat and spend some time with them before we all disappear back off to our different spots in the UK.
There seems to be an influx of good movies being released and I had quite a lot on my list that I wanted to see. Now one of them is checked off.
We went to view: The Theory of Everything.
I can only describe it as enlightening and containing possibly the best actors I have ever seen. It's also thought-provoking, emotional and intensely inspirational in a non-cheesy way. I would recommend it and I am very much looking forward to its release on DVD so that I can purchase it and see it again.
Incidentally for those who weren't aware the movie is based on a novel by Jane Wilde, Stephen Hawking's ex-wife and her experiences with him. It is a lovely movie, very well made and considerate especially considering most of the people involved in it are still living.
I'm not intentionally planning to spoil it but no doubt bits will slip out as I write so if you want to see it untainted skip down from this section.
I think because of when I was born and not having a tendency to follow physics Stephen Hawking was only ever imprinted in my memory as the scientist in the wheelchair, a thought I am perhaps now a little ashamed of. He was much more than that.
What makes the film so moving is that it begins with Stephen before he is diagnosed with motor-neurone disease and so you see both sides. The brilliant mobile man and the even more brilliant immobile one. The transition is really, for want of a better word, emotional. I seem to have poor control over my tear ducts anyway but films and books seem to enhance this. I think that was point one that I cried. It makes you think of all the people who go through this kind of life-changing experiences everyday; deaths, diseases other disasters. And then how lucky you feel for not having that challenge to push yourself through.
I like science, but I like it even better when it's proved wrong, I think it's another testament to that there is something bigger than us who doesn't play by our rules and it is also a humbling and a rather nice thought that humans do get things wrong - often a good thing. After being diagnosed by the doctor, Stephen is told he has two years to live. Well he did and is still defying that. Take that science. As my dad said he probably is going to outlive his doctor (if he hasn't already, I haven't followed up on that). I know a few people who have been given ultimatums like that all of whom have and are defying them, why do we trust science so implicitly?
Watching him (the actor - who by the was brilliant, he was so convincing and pretty much looked like the real Doctor) deteriorate on screen was hard to watch. One scene especially, early on in his disease when he received his PhD and became a Doctor his wife held a dinner party with some old Cambridge friends. And it kind of slows down as you see him struggle to eat and drink while everyone else does it so gracefully and carefully and the frustration of not being able to climb the stairs easily to see his children. It makes you so thankful for what you have and you feel such a respect for his perseverance and strength of character.
I think they did pretty good on finding close matches with the main actor and actress.
The film played out quite nicely showing all the adaptions they had to make, moving the bedroom downstairs etc. but also the joy and the determination they had as a family to get through it. I have a real respect for his then-wife as well who for a lot of it, did everything by herself.
A great theme of it is the conflict between God and Science. Jane who was a strong C of E and Stephen who put aside the thought of personal beliefs in order to not have it affect his scientific findings. However throughout the film you get the feel that he doesn't disbelieve in God. At one point whilst he is writing his book "A Brief History of Time" he writes with regards to his search for a theory to everything that " If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we would know the mind of God." How true.
I had a conflict towards the end where Jane decides to leave Stephen. I have no idea how accurate to the truth this is, but in the movie it is played as Jane choosing to leave Stephen for her church choir director Jonathan. I cried again. I felt really sorry for Stephen. But I also understood her choice. It must have been very difficult for her but at the same time she had made a commitment. It was one of the most personal and raw moments in the movie. Jane's line "I have loved you" set me off, and his reaction is truly upsetting.
My thoughts after the movie were finished were with one of Dr Hawking's closing lines "while there's life there's hope". So many things can go wrong but they shouldn't hold us back. Whilst we live we are in a way unlimited by what we want to do, there is a way to accomplish everything. When I said earlier it was inspirational in a non-cheesy way this was what I meant. Here a very real and human man with flaws proves that the laws we set ourselves (science, amongst others) do not stick, can be changed and we can surpass them and that applies to most anything.
It's overall a message of hope, perseverance and the wonder of what humans can achieve even with great limitations imposed upon them.
I can't wait to see it again.
After having arrived back in Leicester and unpacked I have come to the decision that next holiday my stuff can either fit or one suitcase or stay out because it was nightmare packing and unpacking. But it is nice to be back. Food shop tomorrow and then I'll be officially back.
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