The Bit Player

First of all, you must understand that this is not a movie, it is a documentary; so well done that you could call it a movie. The "interview" is performed by actors, but so convincing, so very well done, that it appears to be the real Shannon, in the real interview. The interview's dialogues were based on real interviews though: done in a way so perfect, respectful, so convincing, recalling Shannon with grateful love (as it should be).

All information presented here is true and extremely well explained. I read other comments here, that say that it lacks "real information". No. You must understand it well. The interview is performed by excellent actors but it also contains real pictures and scenes of the real Shannon. And the most important: The explanation of his Theory is done in a magnificent way. It is of course an "overall" explanation, but that goes to the heart of the problem and the solution. Explained in plain understandable English, for everyone. Want a more profound look at his theories? Read de Shannon original papers. They are publicly available.

Congratulations to actors John Hutton, Judith Ivey, Kaliswa Brewster and of course to Mark A. Levinson, Writer, Producer and Director by this Excelent. Magnificent work. Thanks!!!

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.

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!

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".

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!!!!!