In preparation of its release on Blue-ray, the Criterion Collection has made Errol Morris’s documentary about Stephen Hawking available on the iTunes Store. The 1991 film tells the story of Hawking’s struggle with the degenerative disease that paralyzed him. From the description;
“Errol Morris turns his camera on one of the most fascinating men in the world: the pioneering astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, afflicted by a debilitating motor neuron disease that has left him without a voice or the use of his limbs. An adroitly crafted tale of personal adversity, professional triumph, and cosmological inquiry, Morris’s documentary examines the way the collapse of Hawking’s body has been accompanied by the untrammeled broadening of his imagination. Telling the man’s incredible story through the voices of his colleagues and loved ones, while making dynamically accessible some of the theories in Hawking’s best-selling book of the same name, A Brief History of Time is at once as small as a single life and as big as the ever-expanding universe.”
The film won numerous awards including 3rd place for Best Documentary from the National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA 1993. The movie can be purchased on iTunes for $19.95 (HD), $14.99 (SD), or rented for $3.99 (HD), $2.99 (SD). The Blu-ray/DVD edition can be pre-ordered on Amazon for $24.99 and will be released on March 18.