September 15th, 2023 - 2:00 pm
A COMPASSIONATE SPY Opening at the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes
Special Event, Rosieheimer – The Atomic Era
Opening September 15, the Rehoboth Beach Film Society’s Cinema Art Theater presents A Compassionate Spy, the incredible and gripping documentary about a brilliant scientist and his profound impact on nuclear history. The Society is pleased to feature this critically acclaimed film as part of its look back on the Atomic Era which will kick-off with Top Secret Rosies with Filmmaker, LeAnn Erickson (sold-out) and Oppenheimer.
Directed by two-time Oscar® nominated filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Life Itself), A Compassionate Spy tells the story of controversial Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall, who infamously provided nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union, told through the perspective of his loving wife Joan, who protected his secret for decades. Recruited in 1944 as an 18-year-old Harvard undergraduate to help Robert Oppenheimer and his team create a bomb, Hall was the youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project, and didn't share his colleagues' elation after the successful detonation of the world's first atomic bomb. Concerned that a U.S. post-war monopoly on such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, Hall began passing key information about the bomb's construction to the Soviet Union. After the war, he met, fell in love with, and married Joan, a fellow student with whom he shared a passion for classical music and socialist causes -- and the explosive secret of his espionage. The pair raised a family while living under a cloud of suspicion and years of FBI surveillance and intimidation. A COMPASSIONATE SPY reveals the twists and turns of this real-life spy story and the couple's remarkable love and life together during more than 50 years of marriage. [2022, US, 102 min, Rating: NR]
Noel Murray of Rolling Stone says, “This absorbing, thoughtful film doesn’t take sides... Instead, via interviews, film clips and dramatic re-creations, A Compassionate Spy revisits the changing world the Halls passed through together.”
Screening times are 2 pm on Fri (Sep 15), 2 pm on Sat (Sep 16), 4 pm on Sun (Sep 17) and 5 pm on Thu (Sep 21). Admission is $9 for members, $11.50 for general audiences and $5 for students (student tickets available only at the theater box office). Purchase advance tickets online at www.rehobothfilm.com or at the Cinema Art Theater box office in Lewes, Wednesday-Sunday from 12:00 Noon to 5:00 pm.
