The Bit Player

This is a tremendously good telling of Claude Shannon's work, career and impact which I think will be a great help in giving him the wide recognition he deserves. Someone said it's "not quite a documentary" which is not a criticism though and it takes few liberties with the facts, unlike the Imitation Game for example!

The problem with this documentary is the acted out interviews of Claude Shannon, his wife and the interviewer... who all unfortunately come across as amateur actors even though they aren't. The pausing for every thought is tedious to watch. The construct detracts from the actual information contained in the documentary and seems to take up at least a third of the overall running time. It made me think that I was watching some sort of mockumentary at first.

So few people have heard of Claude Shannon, and his impact is bigger than all of the household names. He sought a "universal theory of communication" for the accurate and efficient transmission of information. The documentary succeeds in explaining concepts simply and clearly. The film also links Shannon's interests in Information and communication to his early interests in codes. Commissioned by the IEEE Society, The Bit Player is the perfect title for this informative film portraying the "father of information theory".

Let me make this clear from the start. My review is in no way targeted at the real Mr. Shannon, who indeed was a great and very interesting man.

I am very much talking about this so called documentary, which fails at almost every level. What made me quit it about halfway through though was the absolutely abysmal acting of Judith Ivey and even more John Hutton as Mrs. and Mr. Shannon.

I have rarely seen such merciless and annoying overplaying. Any person from the street would have done a better job and it totally destroyed the rest for me.

This was not a documentary, but a totally failed attempt at quote - entertainment - based on facts. A mumbling and nervously laughing John Hutton pretending to be Claude Shannon makes it a really bad TV-movie and I am not into that.

Well!!! This is not a documentary but yes its good to have a content created for an overlooked genius. It is a kind of Documentary - Drama version. It has been enacted as per scripts however very well , undoubtedly. Actors has done pretty well job on that. You will not get any hints that it is a drama documentary type. All the interviews are re enacted of old contents. There would be always a question on contents if it is drama version, nevertheless worth watching. His achievements speak for themselves, and he is certainly a person whom anyone who uses a smartphone or computer should know about. The Bit Player is the perfect title for this informative.

Cheers!!!!!