Director: Julia Newman
Albert Einstein was a world renowned celebrity, greeted like a rock star whenever he appeared in public. He was an outspoken social and political activist, an anti-war firebrand who was on the right side of controversial issues like women's rights, racism and nuclear arms control. He warned the world early on that Hitler was intent on war and the destruction of the Jewish people and was strategic and effective in helping to rescue Jews from the Nazis before World War II.
He referred to his fellow Jews as "my Jewish brethren" and wrote "The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, an almost fanatical love of justice, and the desire for personal independence - these are the features of the Jewish tradition which make me thank my lucky stars that I belong to it."
In the 65 years since his death his fiery image has been neutered into that of a charmingly unworldly genius, preoccupied with the rarefied world of physics. Filmmaker Julia Newman, whose earlier film, "Into the Fire," explored how American women joined "the good fight" against the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War, here goes beyond the legend to tell the inspiring and true story of the 20th Century's most famous savant. Using a wealth of rarely seen archival footage, letters to and from Einstein, and new and illuminating interviews, Albert Einstein: Still a Revolutionary shows us a man who, while celebrated for revealing some of the fundamental laws governing our universe, was a true humanitarian; a man who believed in always doing the right thing.
|