Who was Nikola Tesla, this misunderstood genius? The film of the same name addresses this question in an artful and artificial way.
An extraordinary film must be dedicated to an extraordinary man. At least this is the opinion of director Michael Almereyda (61), who with the biopic "Tesla" (in the cinema from August 20) illuminates the work of the genius Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke, 49), who was misunderstood during his lifetime. In some places, however, Almereyda contrived – for example, when Tesla suddenly picks up the karaoke microphone and belts out a Tears For Fears song.
The genius from the second row – that's what it's all about
The plot of "Tesla" begins in 1884, when the Serbian-born US immigrant Nikola Tesla quit his job with inventor colleague Thomas Alva Edison (Kyle MacLachlan, 61) after only a few months. A rivalry that lasted for decades developed between the two, which is also reflected in their work. In the "War Of Currents" (German: "Stromkrieg") Edison feeds his DC voltage into the ring, while Tesla, the chief inventor of Westinghouse Electric, stands for AC voltage.
At least as bitter as Edison, Tesla seems to be wrestling with itself and society. His visions of the future are becoming more and more opulent, and it is becoming more and more difficult for his fellow men and business partners to keep up. Is Tesla just hopelessly ahead of its time – or is it a weirdo?
Still a mystery
To this day, the sonorous name Tesla is surrounded by an unusual mystery. Elon Musk (49) named his company after him, which has set itself the goal of accelerating "the transition to sustainable energy". And filmmaker Christopher Nolan (50) used Tesla's experiments, some of which are shrouded in legend, to turn them into a mixture of period film and science fiction with his film "Prestige" – with David Bowie as Tesla!
In short: It is high time that a separate film was dedicated to the man who played a major role in the technical progress that we take for granted today. It is also significant, however, that, as in his lifetime, he has to line up behind Thomas Edison on the big screen – the biopic "Edison – A life full of light" has been in German cinemas since July 23.
Fallen out of time
In terms of content, the two films can be compared, but stylistically "Tesla" takes a completely different path. One of the real characters, Anne Morgan (1873-1952, portrayed by Eve Hewson, 29), appears as an unreliable narrator who shows "What if?" Scenarios and sometimes addresses the viewer directly. Then suddenly she is sitting in old clothes in front of a Macbook and comparing the number of Google hits for searches on Tesla and Edison.
That is strange at first, but at second glance it fits in with Nikola Tesla. In retrospect, like the film about him, he also seems strangely out of date. Nevertheless, "Tesla" exaggerates with its anachronisms. When Anne Morgan talks about Tesla's life with a projector over and over again, the feeling arises as if you were sitting in a PowerPoint presentation rather than a movie. With Tesla's output of inventions, it is simply impossible to put all aspects of his life into a 100-minute film. The film credo "Show, Don't Tell" is therefore consciously and inevitably trampled underfoot in these scenes. It remains to be seen whether this will do justice to the inventor's work.
Comparing or defining the two bright minds Tesla and Edison using the number of Google hits is very small-minded. If this is the new yardstick for defining someone as "misunderstood" or "overrated", what should Mother Teresa say? It has over half a billion (!) Google search results less than Taylor Swift (30) …
When Ethan Hawke warls "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears in a scene, it is supposed to symbolize Tesla's frustration with the greed and egoism of society, but it seems rather artificial and not artistic. It works much better with the arthouse flair when the title character Tesla does not find himself in elaborate (and expensive) backdrops, but in front of canvas-filling images and projections that represent his life and his visions. Then the thought world of brooder Nikola Tesla, stoically but presently embodied by Hawke, is skillfully visualized and placed in context to his work.
Conclusion:
Edison or Tesla? With the two biopics, this question now also arises in the 21st century. "Edison – A life full of light" with Benedict Cumberbatch (44) stands for mainstream suitable for the masses, but hardly stands out in the oversupply of generic film biographies. "Tesla", on the other hand, like the inventor himself, polarizes and is, in the long run, the more interesting and likeable of the two.