A Brief History of Time, the Film, Online

In 1991, documentarian Errol Morris released A Brief History of Time, a film that told the story of Stephen Hawking's life, as well as exploring Hawking's 1988 book of the same name. It's a masterpiece, but very few people have seen it, largely because of its limited availability on home video—it was briefly released on VHS, and later on a very hard-to-find Dutch DVD (I actually have one of those DVDs).

This is a beautiful, moving film. It's the product of two great minds—the scientist Hawking and the artist Morris—and that collaboration makes for a deeply engrossing sense of stillness that gives us an unparalleled look at Hawking's life both before and after his paralysis from ALS. The film (perhaps ripped from that Dutch DVD?) is available on YouTube in its entirety. For now, at least. Look:

But the big news is that the Criterion Collection will release a Blu-ray/DVD set next month. Finally, this epic film will get the treatment it deserves. In the meantime, we'll settle for YouTube.