nothing like a good documentary at a good film festival
the appeal of this one is more insight to that machine in europe
17 miles of a circular underground tunnel to create particle collisions
the fear being that physics mumbo-jumbo will totally dominate the film
but at least there should be some fascinating footage of the machine
the biggest and most complex ever assembled by man anywhere
anyway - the brain is clear, sharp and ready to try to keep pace
the film opens with some lovely scenes around switzerland
home of cern - the european organisation for nuclear research
builders of the lhc - the large hadron collider - 10 billion bucks
as expected there are a number of talking heads in the film
the first proudly talks about how many nations have participated
india/pakistan, georgia/russia, iran/israel working co-operatively
we are also introduced to the divide between theory and experiment
seems as a physicist you are either pursuing one or other stream of work
and here clearly a europe vs usa thing - the republicans tanked their machine
leaving a bunch of clever and young theorists working at stamford, princeton, etc
shown here looking on with interest at the experimentalists with their big toy in europe
which is how one of the experts describes it - like 2 children smashing 2 toy cars together
but in this case super-computers all over the world ready to capture and analyse data
as expected the scale of the machine is mind-boggling - and the 5 linked projects
20 years of design and construction, 10,000 engineers and workers on the job
the film does an admirable job of providing enough techno-talk to get a grip
so it is easy to understand the why and how of it all - particles are the game
particularly the higgs boson - agreed by all to exist but so far only in theory
the so-called 'god particle' but there are possibly countless more in hiding
seems if nothing comes out of this experiment then it's game over for many
some stating decades of work will be down the drain if there's nothing new
others saying the actual mass of the particle is the most significant issue
pointing then to multiple universes or the so-called symmetrical universe
phew - heady stuff - but very clearly presented and a necessary insight
fortunately the film is more about the people involved than the machine
lots of footage of them jogging, playing piano, ordering pizza, goofing off
as the day looms when the machine is finally switched on the tension rises
then ecstacy when a solitary blip on a screen indicates a fully revolving beam
ditto when it happens in the opposite direction but there's more work to do
colliding the particle beams is the main game and that is a few months away
in the meantime the media are in on the act and pretty well dictate terms
cern want to collide in private but the media want it on prime-time tv
a circus ensues and the question asked - why is the media so powerful?
they win of course so the successful particle collision is a worldwide event
euphoria - and it's all about data - the modern day equivalent of striking gold
computers and engineers are then in overdrive in search of the elusive higgs
and the press conference called months later is also a worldwide event
a packed auditorium and the event televised and streamed online
83 year old peter higgs in the audience for the big announcement
he reduced to tears when it is confirmed the higgs boson exists
a tear or 2 from these eyes too on his behalf - a touching moment
the film wraps with talk of more work and a couple of years wait
me - now very interested in this experiment - and understanding it
what a great documentary - informative, entertaining and entralling
