52 minutes of downloading remaining...auuugh! May I hang out here to make the wait bearable?

Thanks to Lily for pointing me to this thread.

I just finished watching Hawking on you-tube. I am still sitting here stunned by the performance. I can understand why Benedict won that prestigious acting award. (Saw that on you-tube as well) Not sure what it was called, but it sounded like a good one to have.

I know I'm rambling. Sorry. This dude can act! Seriously I am stunned and want to run out and find it on DVD to rent so I can share it with the family. I never really knew the story of Steven Hawking and did not know that his story was so tragic and so triumphant at the same time. 

I mean, yes I know who Steven Hawking is, but this was such a wonderful look at the journey he traveled. I want to say more but I need to get some distance first. I am reeling a little, and want to see it on something bigger than a laptop screen. This movie is going to stay with me for a bit. 

Point of interest: - I am feeling less obsessed with Sherlock at the moment! LOL

I have had a day to think about the film “Hawking”. The thing that affected me so deeply wasn’t just the stellar performance by Benedict Cumberbatch, but by the story itself. I knew who Stephan Hawking was, but didn’t know anything about his life or how he came to succeed even with his physical handicap.
 
After watching the film I went out and looked up as much information as I could find about this rather remarkable man. I found a message written by Hawking entitled Living with ALS. Reading this paper gave me the insight to realize that BC’s performance as Stephan Hawking was as remarkable as I thought even before I had a bit more information.
 
I already knew that BC’s portrayal of the progression of the disease was very well done, due to my work both in the medical profession as well as work I have done with severely handicapped individuals. It was the performance as a person grappling with this condition that stood out so strongly. In the film Hawking never seemed to allow his condition to affect his outlook on life. That seemed a remarkable thing to me, especially considering that early on in the film he asked the doctor for details about this disease and what it would do to him.
 
The doctor very plainly explained that he would slowly lose the ability to control his muscles and when that happened they would whither and atrophy. Stephan asked about his ability to breathe. The doctor explained that breathing is an automatic function and would take longer to be affected by the disease, but that eventually he would also lose that ability as well. Then he asked how this will affect his mind, only to be told that his mind would be unaffected. That is equivalent to telling a young man of 21 that he will slowly become trapped, a prisoner inside his own body before he essentially suffocates, all the while being completely aware of what is happening to him.
 
There are only a few instances where we see the fear and the anger that any human being would feel in this situation. The look on BC’s face after this conversation with the doctor, the frustration he feels when trying to remove his shoes at the end of a day, and the difficulty he had in trying to tell the cab driver to take him to Trinity Hall. It almost seemed as though this aspect of the film was underplayed, but after reading Stephan Hawking’s own words I realize that it was not underplayed at all, but played beautifully!
 
This paper is located here for any interested.
http://www.hawking.org.uk/living-with-als.html
 
I have since purchased the film so that I can watch it again on the television screen with proper sound. I am sure that this will be one of those films that I watch many times. Benedict Cumberbatch is to be commended for taking on a difficult role and doing it with enormous grace and intelligence. He was completely believable in every aspect of this role and it seriously showed his acting chops.
 
What a marvelous film. I am so very glad that I became a Sherlock fan so that I could find my way to this remarkable work. I will eagerly seek out any other roles that this exceptionally talented young man has done. I’m sure there are some things that I will never be able to see and that is truly a shame.
 

What a fantastic movie..I've realised so many things. Thank you.

This was loooong overdue!

I just watched it for the very first time, and I'm still a bit speechless. What a wonderful, amazing, breathtaking and moving film...! I had tears in my eyes several times because it was so easy to truly feel with Stephen. When he was writing this huge formula onto the blackboard I almost lost it completely... you could really feel how devoted he is to this, how he needs this like other people need to breath.
This movie actually made me wish I had a better understanding of physics and natural sciences. It's probably just romantic thinking, but I got the impression that there lies so much beauty in it...!
The music was perfect, and I loved how they visualized the idea of Stephen going against the tide when he was shown walking in one direction while all those cyclists were coming right towards him.

And Benedict, well... another amazing and brilliant performance. I sometimes can't believe how talented he really his. 
 

Right, I was quite confused by the scenes with the Nobel prize winners. I mean, I knew there had to be a reason, but I had no idea what it might be. And then it made total sense and I absolutely love the fact that with their discovery they helped to prove that Stephen was right.
Benedict's acting reminded me a bit of his creature in "Frankenstein"... very physical, very precise and probably very exhausting for him to accomplish.

SolarSystem wrote:

I just watched it for the very first time, and I'm still a bit speechless. What a wonderful, amazing, breathtaking and moving film...! I had tears in my eyes several times because it was so easy to truly feel with Stephen. When he was writing this huge formula onto the blackboard I almost lost it completely... you could really feel how devoted he is to this, how he needs this like other people need to breath.
This movie actually made me wish I had a better understanding of physics and natural sciences. It's probably just romantic thinking, but I got the impression that there lies so much beauty in it...!
The music was perfect, and I loved how they visualized the idea of Stephen going against the tide when he was shown walking in one direction while all those cyclists were coming right towards him.

And Benedict, well... another amazing and brilliant performance. I sometimes can't believe how talented he really his. 
 

 I agree with this post. I watched Hawking on You Tube last weekend. I found BC's performance very moving and he is fantastic in it. I wanted to hug him because he was struggling to do things. I loved this film.

Last edited by Bronte89 (May 3, 2014 8:57 pm)

This film is certainly in my top 5 of Benedict's films. It somehow reminds me of antoher great film which was "My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown" with Daniel Day-Lewis.

It was sometimes difficult to watch "Hawking" becasue seeing how main character is struggling with his illness was so painful and yet he was so cheerful, so passionate, so devoted to his work that most healhty people could envy him. I think Benedict perfectly showed developement of Hawking's disease, how it was complicating his life and how young Hawking was astonishingly fighting with it. Absolutely worth watching.

Last edited by MartaSt (May 3, 2014 9:44 pm)

besleybean wrote:

And still is!

Of course. Hawking is really great man, I love his books and I admire him because he is so smart and even with his disease he had done and he is still doing so many marvelous things. I think most of people, if they were in the same situation as him, would be complaining about their hard life and would turn illness into excuse to do nothing at all, but he is not like this and for that I appreciate him.