Trailer of A COMPASSIONATE SPY, documentary that tells the true story of espionage on the atomic bomb

I have a fascinating trailer for a documentary titled A compassionate spyand tells the amazing true spy story of the Manhattan Project scientist German roomwho shared classified nuclear secrets with Russia during the development of the atomic bomb.

A compassionate spy is “a gripping real-life spy thriller about controversial Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall, who famously supplied 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 did not share his colleagues’ enthusiasm after the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Concerned that a postwar U.S. monopoly on such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, Hall began passing key details about the bomb’s construction to the Soviet Union.

Before 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 couple raised a family while living under a cloud of suspicion and years of FBI surveillance and intimidation. Two-time Academy Award nominee Steve James’ nuanced and ever-relevant documentary reveals the twists and turns of this real-life spy story, its profound impact on nuclear history, and the couple’s extraordinary love and life spent together for more than 50 years of marriage.”

Hall himself is interviewed along with his wife Joan Hall, and has quite a crazy story to tell. I wonder if he regrets what he did knowing what Russia eventually became.

The film comes from the director Steve James (Hoop Dreams, Life Itself on Roger Ebert, The Interrupters, Abacus: Small Enough to Jail). Magnolia Pictures will release the film in select theaters and on VOD on August 4, 2023.