Customer Reviews

Biography - Albert Einstein (A&E DVD Archives)

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This program entirely neglects Einstein's achievements in favor of his disorganized sex life. This is rather like berating Casanova for not being a mathematical genius. The treatment of Einstein's failures as a family man manages to be both sanctimonious and titillating at the same time. The script is barely literate, containing many grammatical 'howlers', and there is much use of inconsequential footage. You will learn precisely nothing about science from watching this video, and not much about the man.

If you're looking for a discussion of Einstein's scientific genius stop here. This film was made for The Biography Channel and as such concentrates on the scientist's - sometimes troubled - personal life. Consequently it can appear to be somewhat salacious, an abandoned first child, numerous affairs etc. However, the film is redeemed by the revelation that Einstein was targetted by Hoover's FBI as a communist and potential 'enemy of the state'. And of course all this was happening at the very time that Einstein was being celebrated as an immigrant who had fled Nazi tyranny to find freedom in the United States. The script is simplistic in places and takes numerous short cuts (the First World War is over in two minutes!) but if you are looking for an introduction to Einstein the man and the times in which he lived, this is a pretty good place to start.

We all know that Einstein was a genius, but who knew he was such a ladies' man? I don't find anything physically attractive about him! What also amazes me is how he could completely abandon his wife and children to further pursue his scientific endeavors. Perhaps the world is a better place because he chose to do so.