You absolutely want to see this movie with Shailene Woodley and Russell Crowe
A sixteen-year-old going to Harvard sounds like a success story à la Young Sheldon, but the story of Ted Kaczynski is anything but that. This mathematical wonder did not become a researcher who cured cancer, but the bombing terrorist Unabomber. Netflix has now made a film about him, featuring Shailene Woodley and Russell Crowe, in which we follow the manhunt that was launched years later. Curious how this Ted grew into an evil mastermind? Then this film is for you.
This is what Unabomber is about
We don't start the film with the awakening of ‘the beast’ in Ted, but in the nineties. Here we follow FBI agent Joanne Miller (Shailene Woodley), who is finally on the trail of the serial bomber. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between Ted and the authorities, who try to get him behind bars at all costs. As the manhunt intensifies, we also get flashbacks to Ted's past at Harvard in the sixties. Here we see how he participated in a psychological experiment by Professor Henry Murray (Russell Crowe). This was not a simple brain test or a murdoku, but a severe stress test that would mark him for the rest of his life.
Murray is not just an ordinary professor, but is portrayed in the film as an enthusiastic psychopath who gets free rein (a.k.a. a chunk of money) from the CIA to brainwash young people. The trauma that Ted suffered here (and of course the fact that he had a screw loose, because how else would you go that way) resulted, according to the film, in a boy who retreated to a cabin in the woods and sent packages with bombs to kill people. At the same time, we follow the manhunt, while Ted makes unsuspecting victims again.
Who stars in Unabomber?
The lead role is for Jacob Tremblay, who plays young Ted. You might know him from Room and Wonder. The child actor, who is now already nineteen, is a true professional. Wonder was such a big success that he was immediately on the map. And there are more big names in the film. Of course, you have Russell Crowe from Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, L.A. Confidential and American Gangster. Next to him plays Shailene Woodley, whom we still know well from her roles as Beatrice in Divergent and Hazel in The Fault in Our Stars. Oh, and although she has a supporting role, there is certainly another well-known actor in this Netflix film: Annabelle Wallis. After The Mummy (2017), Annabelle and Peaky Blinders she now plays a colleague of Murray.
Is Unabomber based on a true story?
Yes. If Netflix can do one thing well, it's making films and series about true stories. After the Monster-series and various other documentaries, this story is also based on real events. Ted Kaczynski was a real person who grew to become one of America's most wanted criminals. But just like in many other films, some things have been fictionalized for dramatic effect. Ted was not a madman who was solely derailed by an experiment. He was a technology philosopher who wanted to exert pressure on society with his radical ideas to counter further industrialization. So it wasn't specifically the experiments that radicalized Ted. According to therapists who studied him, his diagnosis of schizophrenia and various other factors played a role in his behavior. The experiment may have had something to do with it, but there was much more at play.
Why Unabomber is worth watching
Okay, the reviews of this film are honestly not very kind. Especially the manhunt of the FBI and the way the film handles the truth are criticized. And yet I would Unabomber not immediately cross it off your watchlist. It may not be exactly the true story, but that doesn't mean the film isn't good. I found the Harvard part super interesting. I wanted to know what shaped this serial bomber, and you find out exactly that. With the two timelines, you feel like you're not watching a documentary, but a real story. If you are a true true crime lover who devours podcast after podcast, then this definitely suits you.
