Docu on Stephen Hawking shows trials, triumphs

LONDON, UK – In a new documentary by Stephen Finnegan that premiered in Britain on Thursday, September 19, cosmologist Stephen Hawking tells the extraordinary tale of how he overcame his severe disability to become the most famous living scientist.

“This film is a personal journey through my life,” the 71-year-old Briton said in the trailer to “Hawking,” which he co-wrote and narrated in his distinctive, computer-generated voice.

“I have lived 5 decades longer than doctors predicted. I have tried to make good use of my time.”

Preeminent physicist

The film tells in Hawking’s own words and those of his family and friends how a bright student with a fondness for partying became a preeminent physicist who has helped unlock the secrets of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes.

He brought the wonders of the cosmos to millions of people through his lectures and bestselling book, “A Brief History of Time,” becoming a household name who even starred in “The Simpsons.”

Before the Finnegan documentary, Hawking has inspired several other documentaries and also dramatizations, including a film bio starring acclaimed English actor Benedict Cumberbatch. 

Hawkings was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a form of motor neurone disease, when he was just 21. He was told then he only had a few years to live.

“Although I have been successful in my work, my life has had its fair share of challenges,” Hawking said.

A day at a time

The new film goes back to Hawking’s childhood and his student days before the ALS began to attack the nerves controlling his voluntary movement, confining him to a wheelchair and forcing him to speak through a machine.

It features interviews with his family, including his first wife Jane Wilde, with whom he had 3 children. “Falling in love gave me something to live for,” Hawking said.

And it follows him as he travels around the world giving lectures about space and time, refusing to give in to the disease which has locked his mind inside his body.

“Because every day could be my last, I have the desire to make the most of each and every minute,” he said.

Finnegan told AFP that he wanted to create an “intimate portrait” of the scientist’s life.

“He’s notoriously not wanted to talk about his private life, he’s been very guarded,” explained Finnegan. “I wanted to give him a chance to have a voice.”

The 90-minute film had its world premiere at the SXSW festival in Texas in March, but the scientist himself attended the first British screening on Thursday in Cambridge.

Hawking has spent his career at the University of Cambridge, where he was Lucasian Professor of Mathematics from 1979 to 2009, a post previously held by Isaac Newton. – Rappler.com

Here’s a brief clip about Stephen Hawking: