SnoopyStyle In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg (Daniel Craig) arrives in occupied Copenhagen to meet his mentor Quantum Physics pioneer Niels Bohr (Stephen Rea) and his wife Magrethe (Francesca Annis). In 1947, they reunite to argue what exactly they were trying to say.There is real tension for the 1941 time. There is a real underlying danger. It's a great first section although it would work better without the flashforward. The second section starts really interesting as one wonders if there is danger in it. There is definitedly some tension. However, it spirals into confusion as the discussion on the real meaning of their former discussion go in upon itself. I get the idea of the discussion being connected to Quantum Physics. It's a compelling exercise but it is unable to carry the full momentum of the first section.

paul2001sw-1 In the late 1920s, Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr worked closely together to formulate the "Copenhagen interpretation", a philosophical synthesis that provided a basis for understanding the radical new field of quantum mechanics that they (and others) had recently developed. But when world war two broke out, Heisenberg's country (Germany) invaded Bohr's (Denmark): Bohr was eventually to leave home and contribute to the successful allied efforts to develop a nuclear weapon, whereas Heisenberg led the failed German program. But in 1941, when Bohr still lived in Denmark, Heiseberg visited him, and the subject of that meeting has subsequently become a matter of speculation and controversy. Bohr felt that Heisenberg had come on an intelligence-gathering mission and sent him packing; Heisenberg claimed that his (poorly formulated) aim had been to establish a consensus among physicists, to promote continued research into the nature of the atom while denying a weapon to their political masters on both sides. Heisenberg continued to claim, after the war, that he hadn't wanted to build a bomb for the Nazis; but it seems likely that he had not been in a position to do so anyway having failed to conceive one essential idea. If Heisenberg was not a saint, this does not make him a figure of pure evil either: indeed, while the evils of Nazism make him easy to condemn, it's surely also easy to understand the pressures on a patriotic man trying to pursue his great love, theoretical physics, when his country was ruled by monsters. In Michael Frayn's play, 'Copenhagen', now adapted for television, Heisenberg is depicted as a man racked by uncertainty: if his approach to Bohr was confused, Frayn suggests that Heisenberg himself didn't really know what he wanted, at least not in the context of a world at war. As one of Heisenberg's own contributions to physics is known as the "uncertainty principle", there's an open goal for that the dramatist cannot resist, and he frames his imaginative reconstruction of the two men's encounter (whose substance is well-documented) in the language of physics itself, using analogies to their great research to describe their personal outlooks and predicaments. Though probably not literally accurate, it's skilfully done, and as well as exploring the ambiguities of their situation, also makes one interested in the physics itself; the three person cast are all excellent in this version.

netsutty Over the years the meeting between two old friends, physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, which took place in Copenhagen during 1941, has been the subject of much speculation. In particular, Heisenberg's motives for calling the meeting have been scrutinized and brought into question given the nature of his work at the time on the Nazi's nuclear programme.The structure of the screenplay brilliantly examines the varying interpretations of what took place during the meeting in a way that borrows from Eisenberg's Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.I thought that the performances were, as you would expect from Francesca Annis, Daniel Craig and Stephen Rea, flawless, and despite the seemingly dry subject matter of a meeting between two physicists to discuss nuclear physics, I found the plot gripping.I found it extremely enjoyable and would recommend it to anybody who enjoys a thought provoking story (regardless of the extent of their knowledge of nuclear physics!)

Dennis Littrell (Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)Most viewers of this extraordinary play believe that it doesn't answer the question of why Werner Heisenberg came to Copenhagen in 1941 to visit his mentor Niels Bohr. And this is true: playwright Michael Frayn does not give a definitive answer to that intriguing question. But he does give an interpretation.We must go to the "final draft" of their recapitulation of what happened--the "their" being the three of them, Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife Margrethe, who appear as ghosts of themselves in the now empty Bohr residence. In the climatic revisionist scene, instead of walking away from Heisenberg in the woods, Bohr contains his anger and confronts his one-time protégé. He tells Heisenberg to do the calculation to determine how much fissionable material (a "critical mass") would be necessary to sustain a chain reaction.Heisenberg had believed without doing the calculation that the amount was somewhere near a metric ton. As he does the calculation in his head he realizes that the amount would be much, much less, only 50 kilos. This changes everything because it made the bomb entirely possible. Frayn's point is that it is far better that Bohr did not tell Heisenberg to do the calculation because if he had, it is possible that Nazi Germany would have developed an atomic bomb under Heisenberg's direction. But this does not answer the question of why Heisenberg came to Copenhagen. Margrethe has her own answer: he came to show himself off. The little man who is now the reigning theoretical physicist in Germany had come to stand tall and to let Bohr, who was half Jewish, know that he could save him from the Nazis.This is the "psychological" answer and it plays very well. Heisenberg, like most Germans felt humiliated by the defeat in the Great War and had suffered severely in the economic deprivations that followed. And like most Germans Heisenberg, who was not a Nazi, compromised his principles by acquiescing in Nazi rule because he believed that it would return Germany to "its rightful place" as an economic and military leader in the world. He came to Copenhagen in 1941 in triumph. His triumph, understandably, was not well received.The more blunt question of did Heisenberg expect to find out whether the Americans were making a bomb or to get Bohr to help with the German project is also answered in a psychological way. The answer is no, because he knew that Bohr would not help him even if he could. As it turns out at the time Bohr had no knowledge of what the Allies were doing. The other question, a question that would haunt Heisenberg for the rest of his life, was did he delay the German bomb project in order to prevent the Nazis from acquiring the bomb--as he claimed--or was the fact that they were not able to develop a bomb just a matter of not having the ability? To this question playwright Frayn's answer is that Heisenberg would have developed the bomb if he had been able. This answer is the generally accepted one based on the historical evidence, part of which comes from some careless words from Heisenberg himself that were recorded by British intelligence after Heisenberg was captured and sent to England. What Frayn does so very well in his brilliant play is show us that Heisenberg's need to succeed and his need to feel national pride would not allow him to behave otherwise.The direction of this PBS production by Howard Davies relies heavily on an interesting device. Bohr's wife becomes an objectifying factor who is able to step back from the emotional situation and to see both men clearly and to guide the audience toward an understanding of their relationship. Over the years, she and Bohr served as surrogate parents to Heisenberg. He was the little boy who came home to his parents in 1941 to say, Look at me. I am a great success. Only problem was his "success" could not be separated from the Nazi occupation of their country, and Heisenberg was too obtuse and insensitive to see that.In truth, Heisenberg was not entirely aware of his own motivation. He did not know why he came to Copenhagen. Neither did Bohr. But Margrathe did. An accompanying point to this idea is the story of Bohr bluffing Heisenberg and others during a poker game some years before. It appeared from the fall of the cards that it was extremely unlikely that Bohr had made a straight that would win the pot, and yet he kept on betting until all the others threw in, and then when he showed his hand, he had no straight. He had fooled himself. Frayn's position is that in believing he had come to Copenhagen for innocent reasons, Heisenberg was unconsciously fooling himself. Furthermore the fact that he had not done the calculation was equivalent to Bohr's not looking back at his hole cards to see what he really had.This is not an easy play, but the ideas are presented in a clear manner so that any reasonably intelligent person can understand them. Frayn employs an elaborate metaphor involving Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle to elucidate the relationship between Bohr and Heisenberg. They are particles that will collide: Heisenberg the elusive electron, neither here nor there, the very essence of uncertainty, Bohr the stolid neutron. Davies has the two circling and circling one another, even chasing one another, as in a dance while Margrathe watches.I found the play moving and ultimately cathartic as all great plays should be. Davies' direction and the sense of time and place greatly facilitated my enjoyment. And the acting by Stephen Rea (Bohr), Daniel Craig, and in particular, Francesca Annis, was outstanding.