"Chasing Einstein" (2019) Review
“Chasing Einstein” is an illuminating ‘popcorn’ documentary following the world’s leading physicists, scientists and tech disruptors attempting to transcend Einstein’s enduring theory of gravity.
Directors Steve Brown and Timothy Wheeler assemble the leading scientists at the largest particle accelerator (CERN), the largest underground labs (XENON), and the LIGO gravitational wave detector to see if and how technological advancements have pushed researchers to a more all-encompassing theory of universal physics. The current conclusions and foundational assumptions use invisible phenomena known as “Dark Matter” and “Dark Energy” to maintain the foundational verifiable structures of the theory.
Brown and Wheeler, first and foremost, strive to create a film in the manner of the Einstein quote: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” They succeed because they embrace a formal palette that reinforces the people involved, rather than devolving into a PowerPoint presentation.
Brown and Wheeler’s “Chasing Einstein” use the involved and dedicated people who are wedded to this unquenchable thirst for discovery as the framing device. Brown and Wheeler’s unobtrusive camera style wants to see their subjects in the spaces they work, in the commute, noting the details of their environments. In the best possible way, “Chasing Einstein” felt like addictive reality television. There’s a particular branch of self-improvement reality T.V in Australia on shows like “The Biggest Loser.” When you take time to watch people participate in a series that is ultimately saving their lives from food addiction and reclaiming their health - as a viewer, you’re satisfied.
“Chasing Einstein” embraces the different contributors’ same approach of science through their values. Theories aren’t just in question, rather the ego of these professionals is in question. Radical alternate approaches/theories arise, and there’s a personal attachment to long-held assumptions. These participants have made inquisition a profession. The subject of the interrogation is the very understanding of the universe.
The whole time I was watching I couldn’t help but think that is the precise kind of gleefully nerdy pursuits that deserve ongoing profile elevation and scrutiny. I don’t want to see a new social media influencer using reality T.V as a scaffolding for future endorsements; I want to see some scientists bearing their soul in the pursuit of universal truth. I want a hard smoking Italian/American scientist filled with regret about endless nights pursuing scientific advancement for the species and recognition rather than time with her family. I want to see an Astro-Physicist and her Theologian fiancé describing their incredible intellectual symbiosis, the spiritual giving meaning to the science. You love to see frivolous (smart) Hollywood romance of astronomer Jodie Foster and spiritual advisor Matthew McConaughey from “Contact” occurring in real life.
“Chasing Einstein” adds the disruption dimension where ‘big-tech’ personalities seek to bring the techniques of privatised innovation to this often multi-decade research. “Chasing Einstein” is about the chase, the frantic search. You cannot predict a breakthrough. Each investment bristles with anticipation and hope for a leap forward; more often than not, an emptiness like the dark matter that occupies 80% of the known universe. Ultimately though, the best of the participants relish the progress in being proven wrong. There should be comfort in knowing that they’ve exhausted that region and to move onto the next area.
As “South Park” so effectively claimed - “The Simpsons” did it. In Homer’s aspirational pursuit to become an inventor, he’s chasing Edison, who in turn, was pursuing Da Vinci. Heroes and figures like Einstein are essential. Not every scientist receives the honour and exultant ceremony of receiving the Nobel prize. One of the leading scientists says “The only failure to stop searching.” What “Chasing Einstein” shows us, in a scene of total ecstasy, is that natural phenomena like a total solar eclipse cut through the noise. Scientific discovery is not a science - rather an ultra-marathon.
