★★★★★
4th October 2017
A movie review of THE CURRENT WAR. |
“At 32 I wrestled nature into a glass,” Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Edison. Tesla. Westinghouse. With three months to go, THE CURRENT WAR is my favourite film of 2017 so far. Can it be beaten? THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY meets THE SOCIAL NETWORK. What a dynamic presentation of genius. The experience reminds of JAWS, Steven Spielberg using every tool in his toolbox to tell the story. Split screen. Time lapse. God’s eye camerawork. Etc. Etc. A drama as exhilarating as a great thriller. How many period movies are staid, rainy afternoon television staples? Dry and anodyne this is not. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon already showing promise with ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL takes it to a new level. Surely every studio must now have him on their blockbuster tent-pole shortlists?
Edison. Tesla. Westinghouse. With three months to go, THE CURRENT WAR is my favourite film of 2017 so far. Can it be beaten? THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY meets THE SOCIAL NETWORK. What a dynamic presentation of genius. The experience reminds of JAWS, Steven Spielberg using every tool in his toolbox to tell the story. Split screen. Time lapse. God’s eye camerawork. Etc. Etc. A drama as exhilarating as a great thriller. How many period movies are staid, rainy afternoon television staples? Dry and anodyne this is not. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon already showing promise with ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL takes it to a new level. Surely every studio must now have him on their blockbuster tent-pole shortlists?
1880, we are told the world is still lit by fire. Inspired by true events, the opening voice over from Edison tells us of his rise from poverty. New Jersey, December, the passengers on a train disembark. Moving through a field, the lead oil lamp is blown out. And then, wow! The area is stunningly lit in concentric circles by electric light bulbs. A scientific revolution has been witnessed.
“I trust you brought your chequebooks,” he states. A line that speaks much to Edison’s conundrums: The need to be adequately compensated (as he feels his earlier work has been stolen and without him sharing in the profits), and the need for large-scale funding to remain competitive. These two lines go to one of THE CURRENT WAR’s several cores: Edison’s reluctance to collaborate, because of weariness of intellectual property theft, and also arrogance at not seeing brilliance in anyone but himself. Another, teamwork, whether in collegiate form or friendship or spousal support, is how we may succeed in life, or at least not get left behind. Is the film implying a socialist concept among the story of a business race? The way Edison derisively speaks to banker J.P. Morgan (Matthew Macfadyen), is that wish fulfilment after the 2008 financial crash?
From New Jersey, the camera stylishly whirls across the cosmos in bird’s eye view fashion to Pittsburgh, and the home of soon-to-be rival, George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) and Marguerite Westinghouse (Katherine Waterston). They represent integrity and progressiveness. Westinghouse is shown to treat his workers well. Unlike so many period dramas, where women are wallfowers or purveyors of gossip, Waterston is given a meaty role. Marguerite is intelligent and educated, and a fine advisor (spouse or not). At their Pittsburgh residence, a party is deftly and enjoyably used to explain the stakes. The camera moves among the guests in fluid grace. Who doesn’t love a movie showing-off, right?
So not only is THE CURRENT WAR deliriously presenting business and science in the battle to light and power America, the death penalty is brought in. Hanging is unreliable. The state of Buffalo is interested in this new form of energy as a method of killing. Morality is examined. These pioneers are rightly disgusted at being involved in something so barbaric as capital punishment. However, Edison does not come off well.
Beyond the cerebral thrills of THE CURRENT WAR, a heart beats too. There is emotion, and not sentimentally. After a bereavement, Edison’s son taps out “I love you” in Morse code on his father’s shoe. It is a simple yet moving gesture.
Wait till you meet Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult). After David Bowie in THE PRESTIGE and now Hoult, one is itching for a cinema project just about this genius.
Exciting. Thoughtful. Affecting. Inspiring. THE CURRENT WAR is an example of why I adore the silver screen.