A Compassionate Spy

Two-time Oscar nominee Steve James’ nuanced documentary, 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. Premiering at the Venice International Film Festival, this critically acclaimed documentary gives a fascinating fresh perspective on the Oppenheimer story, one of the biggest blockbusters of 2023.

Recruited in 1944 as an 18-year-old Harvard undergraduate, to be the youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project, Jewish physicist Ted Hall didn’t share his colleagues’ elation after the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Increasingly concerned that a U.S. post-war monopoly on such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, he decided to start passing classified information to the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, he met 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.