On the Beaches (2019)

British Norfolk, 1933. Two local kids whose father fought in World War I are running along the beach. Unexpectedly, they meet an elderly eccentric man, whom those two young explorers don’t know yet, but we recognize at once This man’s name was Albert Einstein (played by the British actor Nicholas Woodeson, who previously appeared in secondary roles in Disobedience, Paddington 2, and Skyfall). After leaving the Weimar Germany with its strengthening anti-semitic and Nazi attitudes, Einstein spent six weeks on the Norfolk coast, in the location where the film was made. This light film, one that feels like it’s a children’s movie, dazzlingly grasps the growing sensation of the approaching doom, which is not yet felt by the children with their inherited ancestral trauma, who are witnessing the political immigration of the great scientist. The film’s name came from the famous speech by Great Britain’s prime minister Winston Churchill: “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” There are plans (as of 2020) to create a full-length feature narrative based on On the Beaches, also directed by Luke Rogers.