A Compassionate Spy

NR / 101min

Showings

Lark Theater Fri, Sep 8, 2023 1:00 PM
Lark Theater Sat, Sep 9, 2023 3:10 PM
Lark Theater Mon, Sep 11, 2023 3:15 PM
Lark Theater Tue, Sep 12, 2023 11:00 AM
Lark Theater Fri, Sep 15, 2023 11:50 AM
Lark Theater Thu, Sep 21, 2023 10:00 AM
Film Info
Event Type:Movie
Release Year:2022
Rating:NR
Genre:Documentary, Biography
Cast/Crew Info
Director:Steve James
Cast:Joan Hal, lTed Hall, Joseph Albright

Description


 


 

 

A Compassionate Spy


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."
- Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times


What’s effective and touching in “A Compassionate Spy” relates directly to the satisfaction of getting to know Joan Hall, a terrifically vital and reflective presence."
- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune




SYNOPSIS:

Directed by two-time Oscar® nominated filmmaker Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, LIFE ITSELF), A COMPASSIONATE SPY is a gripping real-life spy thriller about 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, its profound impact on nuclear history, and the couple's remarkable love and life together during more than 50 years of marriage.





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