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A Brief History of Time

Stephen Hawking (Actor), Errol Morris (Director) Rated:
G
Format: DVD
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 103 ratings
IMDb7.3/10.0
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Genre Special Interests
Format NTSC, Color, Multiple Formats, Widescreen
Contributor Stephen Hawking, Errol Morris
Language English
Number Of Discs 1
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Product Description

Errol Morris (THE FOG OF WAR) turns his camera on one of the most fascinating men in the world: The pioneering astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, afflicted by a debilitating motor neuron disease that has left him without a voice or the use of his limbs. An adroitly crafted tale of personal adversity, professional triumph, and cosmological inquiry, Morris's documentary examines the way the collapse of Hawking's body has been accompanied by the untrammeled broadening of his imagination. Telling the man's incredible story through the voices of his colleagues and loved ones, while making dynamically accessible some of the theories in Hawking's best-selling book of the same name, a BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME is at once as small as a single life and as big as the ever-expanding universe.

Product details

  • Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
  • MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ G (General Audience)
  • Product Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 5.25 x 0.5 inches; 2.72 ounces
  • Item model number ‏ : ‎ 28934714
  • Director ‏ : ‎ Errol Morris
  • Media Format ‏ : ‎ NTSC, Color, Multiple Formats, Widescreen
  • Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 24 minutes
  • Release date ‏ : ‎ April 15, 2014
  • Actors ‏ : ‎ Stephen Hawking
  • Studio ‏ : ‎ Criterion Collection (Direct)
  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00I116MUC
  • Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ USA
  • Number of discs ‏ : ‎ 1
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 103 ratings

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
103 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Tony Strad
5.0 out of 5 stars Extraordinary!
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2022
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Extraordinary!
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Burke
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2018
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I worked for years with the physically challenged and admired Hawking for his grace alone. He will go down in history as one of a dozen greatest minds of all time. And I missed him. So I simply had to have a book of his in my home right away.
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Claude J. Werner
5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring and educational story
Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2009
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An interesting story of the technical side of astrophysics combined Stephen Hawkings' personal story. You can tell that his mind powers his body rather than vice versa as most of the rest of the human race. I find him admirable and inspiring in the face of extreme adversity.
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Marie A. Cerezo
3.0 out of 5 stars I was hoping to see more of his "theory" of ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2014
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I was hoping to see more of his "theory" of the Big Bang, instead it was more about the man instead of his findings. But he was truthful when he was wrong. Yet, all the information presented was a "theory". I had just seen "The Theory of Everything", and wanted to know exactly what is findings were.
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Christina Reynolds
4.0 out of 5 stars Can Definitely Be Hard to Follow, But Is Easy To Appreciate
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2022
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Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who, at the time of his death, was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.

𝑰𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒇𝒆𝒘 𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒍𝒍 - 𝒑𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 - 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕. 𝑰𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏.

A Brief History of Time is a 1991 biographical documentary film about the physicist Stephen Hawking, directed by Errol Morris. The title derives from Hawking's 1988 book A Brief History of Time. The book is solely an explanation of cosmology, but this film is also a biography of Hawking, featuring interviews with some of his family members and colleagues.

Prior to his involvement in creating films, director Errol Morris was a graduate student at Princeton University studying the History of Physics and subsequently at Berkeley as a doctoral student in Philosophy. Like Hawking, Morris did not perform well academically (But, he attributes this to his diminished interest in the material), but he was recruited by producer Kathleen Kennedy for the purposes of visiting with and interviewing Hawking in Cambridge England.
Intimidated by Hawking due to his reputation as scholar, 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 makes good use of its run time as the best-rounded account of Hawking’s background that could be delivered at the time; Obviously, the picture is incomplete in part because of Hawking’s own request that the focus be on his occupational or scholastic related achievements, but well understood is the incubation of wonder that is priceless and would be significant as a point of foundation for Stephen’s developing career.
Having set the precedent for a casual narrative structure, Morris’ easy-going attitude gets sporadically lost in a scientific smoothie, though I knowingly say this as someone that can maybe spell theoretical physicist on a good day (Ha ha, but really, I take no real pleasure in listening to lectures related to Hawking’s work). The difficulty in following interviews and finding material for additional clarity (If desired) is partially remedied by the credits as eventually everyone is identified by name, however, some early designation via on-screen labeling of proper nouns and title(s) indicating the relationship had with Hawking would have been helpful in adapting the complexity of his work to relatively uninformed audience members
That said, one must consider 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆’s steadfast commitment to formality as a by-product of many subjects making themselves scarce during its production, with the most prominent of those being Hawking’s first wife, Jane. In the year 1990 Jane and Stephen separated after having been married for thirty years, and the circumstances regarding this were unsavory and scandalous to say the very least; having required around-the-clock care following a tracheostomy in 1985, Hawking grew closer to and fell in love with one of his nurses named Elaine Mason, and these two would eventually get married in 1995.
Understandably, most of the people accosted for comment by Morris (Jane included) were inadvertently made to feel like they were “taking sides” as reflected in their involvement with the making of 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆, and this fear was key in determining what parts of Hawking’s life were best left to the imagination.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as described in 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. The earliest description of the disease was provided in 1824 by Scottish surgeon and neurologist Charles Bell, but Stephen Hawking's diagnosis brought worldwide attention to this condition following his diagnosis in 1963: Attention that has proved instrumental in findings related to the genetic components related to ALS as most cases tend to occur sporadically or without a clear family history.
Hawking’s initial prognosis (Given most people with ALS die within two to five years of being diagnosed with it) was far surpassed when 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 was being made, and Morris’ footage is careful to suggest the fragility of his condition. Namely, the unpredictability of ALS in regards to a progressive loss of functionality is subtly alluded to regardless of how directly relevant it might be to the current topic at hand. This in combination with the agency required to extract Hawking’s thoughts come out not so much as a tempered sense of urgency, but enthusiastic adaptability to his on-going communication related challenges and needs.

As a result of the tracheostomy mentioned earlier Hawking completely lost his voice, and in 1986 Hawking received a computer program called ‘the equalizer’ from Walt Woltosz, CEO of Words+; this equalizer utilized an algorithm developed by Dennis Klatt, and included voice recordings provided by Klatt himself.
This technology allowed for continuous contributions to be made by Hawking without uttering literal words, and the underlying ecosystem of collaborative ingenuity is 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆’s shining star: And not one that is bright with contempt, but with a seasoned gratitude for knowledge made accessible to others with the expectation that one might take it somewhere novel, productive, and in the best of cases outstandingly life-changing. It goes without saying that 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 touches on the technical difficulties posed overtime given what is known about Hawking’s reaction time (Because, at his fastest Hawking could produce about fifteen words a minute) as this warrants what would otherwise be the excessively pretentious use of pre-recorded answers from various lectures and publications in lieu of differently worded responses, but the more collective acknowledgement of how much Hawking valued the input of others and vice-versa is an unexpectedly wholesome theme to retire on.

Up until the point of his death, Stephen Hawking's purpose in life was ultimately indebted to a fundamental question that has a plethora of applications:
Who are we, and where did we come from?
And more than that: Is there any uniformity to be found in wherever we are headed to next?
A little advertised fact that is now insightful in retrospect, but the publication of 𝑨 𝑩𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 is important as an embodiment of the commitment Hawking made to education in his personal life and the larger public’s stratosphere; it is known that 𝑨𝑩𝑯𝑻’s popularity and reception was due in part to how successful it was in transposing the gravity (#𝑯𝒂𝑯𝒂) of the research done by Hawking’s with support from his colleagues to an unlikely but deeply desired audience, but on a smaller level it provided the budgetary support needed to keep Hopkins’ children enrolled in school when the notoriety of his earlier publications assisted little in changing his financial status.
Acting with the awareness of his own ignorance in combination with physical limitations, Hawking became in more ways than one a world-class example of what it means to extract something out of nothing, and in doing so kept a manageable grasp on the inflexible and non-tangible even when unable to maintain a clenched fist
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Robert Colburn
5.0 out of 5 stars An All-Time Favorite
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2013
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Most intriguing and informative movie that gives much background on Stephen Hawking, both historical and personal. The oxymoron of a brilliant mind paired with a degrading physical stature; Sad for Stephen, but inspiring for us.
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Charles JR Moss
5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendence
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019
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Knowledge and Morris
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G. S.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2018
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Loved this movie about this brilliant man
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jorge henrique aretakis de araujo
5.0 out of 5 stars Maravilhoso
Reviewed in Brazil on October 19, 2022
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Filme maravilhoso , qualidade maravilhosa mesmo para dvd , criterion né?! Nunca erram
Chegou antes do esperado e o valor foi bem bacana
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Katie Green
5.0 out of 5 stars You Never Loved the Universe this much...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 31, 2003
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"A Brief History of Time" is not just a fascinating look at both the biography of physicist Steven Hawking and at the development of his theories, but it is an example of British documentary film-making at its finest. The film cuts back and forth between the slow and deadly development of Steven's illness, and the magical universe that he has made more understandable than we ever thought possible. The deep humanity of the film, and the way it binds together Steven's theories of physics with the very essence of who he is, makes it both an academic and emotional experience. Once you've seen this movie, you'll never look at science or scientists in quite the same way again.
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Jelly belly fr
1.0 out of 5 stars Laid out like a book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2017
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Laid out like a book, didn't realize it was a vhs tape, as I don't have a video recorder, it's a waste of money, not clearly marked as vhs tape, not happy, will not be using this seller again,. As I live abroad have just received from my son, so to late to return, rubbish
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