Director Mark Levinson followed a bunch of nerds for five years to create a documentary that is, dare I say, the most riveting story ever based around particle physics. In fact, it’s really set up like a mystery, with physicists flocking to the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest machine ever built by mankind. Will it be able to recreate the conditions of the universe just after the Big Bang? Will it even work?
Levinson actually makes you care, a lot, since all of the fascinating characters in the film treat it like the fate of mankind’s understanding of the universe is in the balance. You’ll be sweating as they attempt to determine if the Higgs boson exists—like in, “OH DEAR GOD PLEASE LET THEM FIND IT!” That’s the level of tension and intrigue he craftily creates.
The suspense is balanced, though, with some funny and odd scenes that include a hip-hop song about a supercollider done by superdorks, theoretical physicists playing with a piece of modern art and a researcher who compares his work to making coffee: “Coffee’s a very serious business in the life of a theorist. It’s not like physics research, where you can wait for 30 years before you know if you are right. Within a few minutes, it pays off. If you succeed, it’s great. If you fail, you get to try another one in another minute.” He then sums up his job thus: “Jumping from failure to failure with undiminished enthusiasm is the big secret to success.”
The film opens Friday at the Nick; on opening night at 7pm there will be a Q&A with staff from the Santa Cruz Institute of Particle Physics at UCSC.
