‘The Current War: Director’s Cut’ is compelling

BY Ron Wilbur

Nerd alert! To those fascinated by inventors and industrialists, what could be more stimulating than a battle between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse pontificating the advantages of alternating current vs. direct current? Yawn. Ok, it doesn’t sound that exciting to most, but this compelling historical drama is “illuminating.”

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and writer Michael Mitnick present this masterfully crafted period piece with an all-star cast, including British actors Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison, Tom Holland as Edison’s assistant Samuel Insull, Nicholas Hoult as the futurist Nikola Tesla and American Michael Shannon as Westinghouse.

In 1880, Edison had just patented the glass vacuum tube for the simple purpose of giving light. It might have been the greatest invention since the wheel. Most of us couldn’t re-invent it today, even knowing what we know. Although Edison did not actually invent the bulb, he invented a practical, long-lasting and inexpensive product.

Yet, Edison had chosen to power the world with direct current (DC), which was expensive and impractical, as it was inefficient and ineffective over distance. Under his employ was the visionary engineer Nikola Tesla, brazen enough to suggest to the brilliant Edison a better way, alternating current (AC). Edison dismissed Tesla saying, “Your name will not be associated with any successful product, ever!”

Financier J.P. Morgan offered to fund Edison, but the Wizard of Menlo Park responded, “My counteroffer to you is give me everything I want and I give you nothing you want.” Meanwhile, Westinghouse, the inventor of train air brakes envisions a future of powering the modern world with alternating current (AC), similar to what Tesla suggests.

The stage was set for three brilliant visionaries to set off in a cutthroat competition that literally lit up the world. As Edison and Westinghouse (with Tesla) grapple for whom will power the nation, they spark one of the first and greatest corporate feuds in American history. These Titans of Industry square off in a no-holds-barred personal battle for the potential profits, recognition and a genuine aim to make the world a better place.

Edison lectures, “Our future isn’t paved with bricks, but with copper. Automation, transportation, communication, the man that controls that current, controls the future!” But Insull can see the writing on the wall, “Mr. Edison, I want you to succeed, I do. But, you have to switch tonight or you’ll die as P.T. Barnum rather than Sir Isaac Newton.”

Amongst their personal tragedies, financial risks and race from city to city, it comes to a head at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. They deliver competing proposals to illuminate the exposition for the world to see. Edison then announces, “I’m working on something now, something so new that people will forget I was ever associated with electricity.” He then patents the kinescope movie projector. He may have liked what emerged.

The Brits adequately portray the spark and intellectual heft of our American industrialists. Cumberbatch typically plays the hero and Shannon the villain, but we enjoyed that their characters here are more conflicted and complex, given each situation.

“The Current War: Director’s Cut” is 107 minutes and rated PG-13 for some disturbing images and thematic elements. This film was to have been released in 2017, but it was delayed when Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual harassment. Whether it’s movies or inventions, we learn a person must decide if they just want their name on stuff or if they prefer a legacy of leaving the world a better place.

For those interested, Edison’s lab was moved intact to the Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, next to the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, the original Ford assembly line and other significant American artifacts. It took Edison over 3,000 designs to develop his light bulb, but it must have been difficult working in the dark. Wonder if each time they failed, he asked, “How many of you geniuses did it take to screw up this light bulb?”

Ron’s Rating: B+
Leigh’s Rating: C+