Copenhagen

Copenhagen Review

Michael Frayn's Tony Award-winning drama Copenhagen is no doubt intriguing and mysterious. The play, or rather the film itself draws the audience into the plot, into the world in 1940s, a world in WW2, a world where even the trust between friends were broken. I am very impressed by the kind of passion the two scientists possessed for physics and their research as well as the kind of principles and ethics that they both practice. For instance in one of the scene, Heisenberg stirred up a vigorous debate with Bohr about the particle theory. That scene was very interesting as Heisenberg relates the universe to an atom and he himself acted as a proton running around the room to illustrate his point. At the same time Bohr was fiercely arguing his theory. Both scientists were very agitated in proving their point and hypothesis. This scene subconsciously makes me think about which theory is more logical and become totally engaged in their heated debate. Science is indeed full of uncertainties.

This film brought up the topic of trust. No doubt both scientist as depicted in the film were incapable of expressing their feelings and emotions directly, thus brought about many misunderstandings. Just like when Heisenberg went to visit Bohr in Copenhagen in 1941, his intention was to warn Bohr, his good friend, of the Germans plan to attack Copenhagen. However, he did not express directly his intentions, leaving Bohr and his wife to wonder what his motives were. This led to their mistrust of each other and constant conflict. I dislike this part where both characters were engaged in their own thoughts, pondering over what each other feel about the unexpected visit. If both scientists were to express their emotions and uncertainty explicitly, misunderstandings would probably not occur. Thus it also teaches me the importance of communications and expressions. One must learn to express feelings from the bottom of the heart and this tends to avoid...