Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

A Brief History of Time Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 16, 2014

Winner of Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, Errol Morris' "A Brief History of Time" (1991) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new interviews with director Errol Morris and cinematographer John Bailey. The release also arrives with a 32-page illustrated booklet featuring David Sterritt's essay "Macrobiography", a chapter from Stephen Hawking's 2013 memoir "My Brief History", and an excerpt from his book "A Brief History of Time". In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

"Why do we remember the past but not the future?"

Errol Morris’ film A Brief History of Time tells two very different stories. The first is about one of the greatest minds of our time: the legendary astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. It chronicles the progression of the disease that collapsed Hawking’s body and his struggle to continue communicating with the people around him. The second story is about the emergence and evolution of Hawking’s groundbreaking theories.

The film opens up with a series of clips from various interviews in which relatives, friends and colleagues discuss Hawking’s childhood years and his unusual ability to deconstruct and solve complex mathematical problems. These early discussions also reveal that Hawking very much enjoyed the simple pleasures in life. Then through a series of flashbacks Morris shows how Hawking discovered that ALS had started altering his body.

As the film progresses, the focus of attention is gradually shifted to Hawking’s theories, but Morris makes sure that they are explained in a manner that would make sense even to viewers who are entirely unfamiliar with the principles of quantum mechanics. For example, there are simple analogies that make it easy to grasp the ideas Hawking’s mind was fascinated with. Using a special device, Hawking himself occasionally offers interesting comments that clarify his discoveries.

A major part of the film is reserved for Hawking’s notorious black hole theory. While Hawking slowly explains his initial findings and speculations, Morris uses wonderful graphics to illustrate their evolution. As presented, the majority of them seem logical. At one point, however, Hawking admits that he has made a mistake while formulating his theory and carefully explains why. This specific part of the film, where Hawking describes how the black hole theory came to exist and then in the process corrects himself, is absolutely fascinating.

The more Hawking’s theories evolve, however, the more difficult it becomes not to question them – but only because they contradict existing 'truths' and 'facts'. Indeed, many are so advanced that applying conventional logic to understand them seems like a waste of time.

Ultimately, whether Hawking’s theories are proved right or wrong should be irrelevant. What is important to remember is that they have introduced possibilities and encouraged people to speculate. This is precisely what Morris’ film does as well – it introduces Hawking’s theories without judging them and leaves it to the viewer to decide whether they are to be taken seriously or dismissed as crazy talk. Admittedly, such a stance could frustrate a small group of viewers who appreciate documentary films that always choose a side, but it is clear that Morris never intended to validate an existing opinion with A Brief History of Time.

Note: Morris’ film is based on Hawking’s best-selling book of the same name which describes his theories in much greater detail. However, since the book’s publication (and the film’s release in 1991) Hawking has corrected a number of his theories. In a recent paper posted online, the famous astrophysicist has even speculated that conventional black holes, as the ones discussed in Morris’ film, actually do not exist.

A Brief History of Time Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Errol Morris' A Brief History of Time arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:

"Supervised by director of photography John Bailey, this new digital transfer was create din 4K resolution on Northlight film scanner from the 35mm original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for small dirt, flicker, and jitter. The audio for this reelase was mastered at 24-bit from the original 4-track magnetic tracks using Pro Tools HD.

Transfer supervisor: John Bailey, Lee Kline.
Colorist: Gregg Garvin/Modern VideoFilm, Burbank, CA."

The technical presentation of this truly outstanding documentary film is excellent. The clips from the original interviews boast outstanding depth and clarity. Sharpness and contrast are also very well balanced. Light and colors are used in a variety of unique ways to illustrate some of the key points in Stephen Hawking and these sequences look fantastic. Additionally, there are absolutely no scratches, debris, cuts, stains, or warps. Image stability is terrific. Lastly, there are no compression or encoding issues to address in this review. To sum it all up, this is a very solid organic presentation of A Brief History of Time which more than likely will remain the film's definitive presentation on the home video market. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

A Brief History of Time Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature.

A Brief History of Time is complimented by an outstanding orchestral score courtesy of Philip Glass which benefits tremendously from the lossless treatment. Indeed, there is an excellent range of nuanced dynamics that dramatically change the tone of the film as intended (typically between descriptions of Hawking's theories where different illustrations are used to highlight key points). The dialog is exceptionally clean, stable, and very easy to follow. Also, there are absolutely no pops, cracks, audio dropouts, or distortions.

A Brief History of Time Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Errol Morris - in this brand new video interview, director Errol Morris explains how A Brief History of Time came to exist and what he wanted to accomplish with it, and discusses his fascinating interactions with Stephen Hawking during the shooting of the film. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in November 2013. In English, not subtitled. (35 min, 1080p).

• John Bailey - in this brand new video interview, cinematographer John Bailey discusses his contribution to Errol Morris' A Brief History of Time and some of the unique challenges he had to overcome during the shooting of the film. (The cinematographer had access to Stephen Hawking only for a couple of days). The interview was conducted excursively for Criterion in September 2013. In English, not subtitled. (12 min, 1080p).

• Booklet - 32-page illustrated booklet featuring David Sterritt's essay "Macrobiography", a chapter from Stephen Hawking's 2013 memoir "My Brief History", and an excerpt from his book "A Brief History of Time".

A Brief History of Time Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One does not have to be an expert in physics or astronomy to be seriously intrigued by the questions the great Stephen Hawking asks and then attempts to answer in Errol Morris' documentary A Brief History of Time. After all, who wouldn't want to know if time, as we know and understand it, would one day come to an end? Recently Hawking has corrected a number of his theories, but the manner in which they are presented and discussed in this film is absolutely fascinating. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.