NOW SHOWING
THE CURRENT WAR
Director: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Katherine Waterston, Nicholas Hoult
Duration: 103 minutes
Classification: M
Verdict:★★★
THIS movie about the early days of electric light and the rivalry between Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) almost didn’t make it into cinemas at all. Completed three years ago by the Weinstein Company, it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017 but was shelved and sold off when the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke. Following some reshoots and re-editing, it is finally getting a local release.
You can understand why its makers refused to give up on it. It’s an extremely stylish film, packed with good performances. In the 1880s, Edison and Westinghouse are competing to supply electric light to the cities of the United States. While Edison favours direct current (DC), which is safer (ask an electrician why), Westinghouse is following the alternating current (AC) route, which is more efficient over longer distances, but riskier.
The wild card in the contest between these two inventor-businessmen is eccentric visionary Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult), who goes to work for Edison at first but later throws in his lot with Westinghouse.
A key objective in the publicity
war between the two companies is the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, with each competing for the right to wow the visiting crowds with a display of electric light.
It’s soon clear that it’s a war in which Edison, for one, is willing to fight dirty, calling a press conference at which a horse is to be electrocuted using AC current to demonstrate the dangers of Westinghouse’s approach.
The Current War moves incredibly quickly – at times too quickly for its own good.
You often wish it would stop and give scenes a chance to breathe before zipping on to the next event.
It’s as if the movie is actively anticipating the high-speed, lowattention-span present that the invention of electricity will ultimately give birth to.
You can also sense a reluctance on the part of screenwriter Michael Mitnick to either damn or lionise his two leads. Edison comes across as both loving family man and obsessed egotist, while Westinghouse’s ruthlessness is explained by flashbacks to his service in the American Civil War. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) has a real flair for unforgettable images, but the story he’s telling somehow fails to fully charge up.