Review of Particle Fever (2013) by Quincy T — 30 May 2015

Answering fundamental questions by scientist for casual viewers. I'll admit I have no knowledge of physics whatsoever and some parts of the documentary are honestly a bit too complex for me, yet the commitment as these men and women pursue their craft will not be lost to anyone. Particle Fever is a documentary about Higgs particle and the long arduous journey to discover, or rather prove its existence. It's made entirely from footage of the actual scientists and impressive shots over the colossal machinery.

The production crew knows how to intrigue and inspire audience. It often uses clean colorful visual, nifty graphic as well as the panoramic shots to showcase the size of the Large Hadron Collider. The scientists themselves present monologues to explain the subject to the audience, some clips are even taken from seminar or actual conference. It gives a sense of involvement as they focus with the mainly basic problems anyone can follow.

However, it does tend to be overly complex at latter half, which is understandable. Some of the on-screen people have dedicated their lives for this, they are not characters. While the details might not be identifiable for everyone, the scale of massive undertaking and the way it affects those who worked tirelessly for this effort are easily apparent.

This is a work to inspire, giving more understanding to the famously hyped god particle. It's visually engaging and effectively entices casual audience to gaze on the science behind it.