Review: Hawking (15)

One of the most remarkable men who has ever lived requires a remarkable telling of his story.

In terms of physicist Stephen Hawking, the new dramadocumentary bearing his name goes a long way towards unravelling the human being behind the brain and the emotion behind the artificial voice. “I have lived two-thirds of my life with the threat of death hanging over me,” says the 71-year-old as he considers his life, his wives, his achievements and his still to-be-achieved ambitions.

Then there is the issue of Hawking’s celebrity status. He’s the remarkable man in a wheelchair who communicates by twitching a muscle in his cheek – the only part of his body that still works. Yet he can sell out theatres and university campuses. He’s a star.

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Hawking himself asks whether he is as famous for his wheelchair and disabilities as he is for his various discoveries. And he faces up to a bigger question: what will happen to him when that vital cheek muscle fails…?

In a biopic that dramatises early parts of his life Hawking emerges as a man of indomitable spirit whose brain moves like lightning. He continues to make controversial scientific pronouncements. But what of the Motor Neurone Disease?

Throughout his life as an invalid he has suffered coughing fits and near-fatal experiences. It’s distressing for friends and family who have become used to seeing Hawking in his semi locked-in state.

Stephen Finnigan’s film also deals with Hawking’s ego and his enjoyment of fame, which split up two marriages. One wife claims it swallowed her up. Hawking himself continues to fire on all mental cylinders. His various fans and supporters include comic actor Jim Carrey, who appears in the film. Hawking revels in such relationships.Like Einstein, he has a relaxed attitude to study.

And on his own terms he is a man in no hurry to die.

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