Einstein Series on Nat Geographic

[silverscreenselect]

We saw the opening episode of the Einstein series, titled Genius on National Geographic Channel. It covers both Einstein's adult life (from the 1930's on) and his college years and alternates back and forth (similar to the AMC Western series, The Son, now airing). Geoffrey Rush plays the older Einstein and a relatively unknown actor Johnny Flynn plays the younger. There will be ten episodes this season; Ron Howard directed the first (he is also one of the producers of the series).

I'm not sure when these scripts were written, but there are some very eerie similarities to present day. In one scene, a fellow physics professor of Einstein's in Germany gives a lecture denouncing Einstein's theories on the grounds that they don't represent real German physics. Then at the very end, when Einstein and his wife apply for a visa to come to America in 1933, a bureaucrat (played by Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser) starts asking Einstein questions about his political beliefs, those of his ex-wife, and his real reasons for wanting to come to America (he admits he's acting under instructions from J. Edgar Hoover). He makes it clear that unless Einstein convinces him that he's not coming to the US to cause trouble, he won't grant the visa. This scene immediately follows one in which a brown shirt thug at a Nazi street rally spits in Einstein's face.

Depending on your point of view, the political bent of the show may or may not be to your liking, but it is an interesting look at the man and his various eccentricities.