A Compassionate Spy

Released Aug 4, 2023

1 hr. 41 min.

Documentary

Biography

History

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48 Reviews

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Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

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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Critics Consensus

A Compassionate Spy's personal approach to its real-life story makes the end result mostly compelling despite an uncritical tone that verges on hagiography.

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Kathy M

A cringeworthy, selfish, and annoying account from the perspective of the spy and his wife on their betrayal of America. Only redeeming quality is that it could be a casework study on the intellectual, elite class and how they believe they have all the answers but in reality they are destructive and evil. The wife not only bemoaned her role of motherhood- she demanded her husband live a lie and watch others die for his mistake.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

03/19/24

Full Review

Stephen Jules R

So glad for y'all who Oppenheimers got yeah new medico yeah better world and dig deeper and find so every much more wow

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/14/24

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S R

A lot of interesting information, but not supportive of my world view or philosophies. It wasn't that I didn't agree with what they said, more like I didn't agree with their closed mindedness. Saw on delta.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/28/23

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Jason B

Bad. Really bad. Difficult to watch. The people involved were portrayed as saints. They're certainly not. And BTW, no one is a physicist at 18 years old. A Compassionate Spy is full of embellishments and misrepresentations. Gross.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

12/15/23

Full Review

dave d

This is a very nuanced documentary that is for those who want to hear every side of the story and who are everlastingly searching for the truth. Manhattan Project physicist and Soviet Union spy Theodore Hall is the focus of this feature by legendary documentarian Steve James. Hall's wife, Joan had video footage of her husband just before he passed in 1999. It appears the filmmaker and his wife are attempting to give him a pass for what he did. The bottom line is Hall gave up nuclear secrets to Joseph Stalin and that will always be hard to justify until the end of time which appears closer every passing day. It is a fascinating take and a very interesting issue to parse. Final Score: 7.8/10

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/13/23

Full Review

John K

Written/directed from the perspective of communist oppressor sympathizers. This film is pure propaganda. I recommend viewers read the Gulag Archipelago, a Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, etc. All of what's going on right now (including this propaganda film) is straight out of the Marxist and Maoist Cultural Devolution playbook to break down society, just like was done in China during Mao's Cultural Devolution with the "Red Guards" and "Struggle Sessions" and countless other Marxist/communist revolutions that led to millions murdered, and oppression for decades. History bears out time and time again that the results of Marxist ideology are absolutely devastating to society and individuals).

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/11/23

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A Compassionate Spy: Trailer 1

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Claudia Puig

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

I found it kind of one-sided... It's hard to know what his motivations were, and I wish James explored that more.

Aug 17, 2023

Full Review

Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

Very interesting. Some people -- like myself -- would just call this movie "A Spy." But that's okay!

Aug 17, 2023

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Adam Mullins-Khatib

Chicago Reader

Riding the coattails of Oppenheimer, this documentary suffers from a drift into hagiography.

Aug 8, 2023

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John Serba

Decider

A Compassionate Spy is a love story as much as it is a history lesson or a spurring of political and philosophical debates.

Dec 1, 2023

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Damon Wise

Deadline Hollywood Daily

Hall’s story is extraordinary, then, but sadly the telling of it is not, and although it seems fair not to create action and suspense when there really was none, A Compassionate Spy nevertheless fails to fully engage with the enormity of its subject.

Sep 19, 2023

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Lee Zumpe

Tampa Bay Newspapers

Even though the documentary would have benefitted from a more unbiased approach, the film is worth checking out as a postscript for “Oppenheimer.”

Aug 23, 2023

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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.

Director: Steve James
Executive Producer: Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Tim Horsburgh, Gordon Quinn
Screenwriter: Steve James
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Participant, Mitten Media, Kartemquin Films
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 4, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 4, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $34.5K

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