This documentary spans several years leading up to the apparent detection of the Higgs particle in 2013. We get a fair bit of insight from several theoreticians and experimental scientists. The complexity of CERN's large hadron collider is part of the story - debugging, repairing, testing, etc. Not a small part of the story either.
Behind it all is the quest for the elusive Higgs particle. I thought that the movie makers have done a pretty good job of explaining the theory of what the particle is, how it fits into the "Standard Model", and how the experimentalists expect to find with their incredibly large and complex equipment. It helps to watch it on DVD because you may want to back-up in few places for better comprehension. Also, several graphics are quite well done and help illustrate the complex theory. I have a much better understanding of the standard model from having paused DVD player and studied one of the graphics in particular.
So their is some technical content to be sure, but even to a layman like myself, it rarely came across as "mumbo-jumbo".
Behind it all is the quest for the elusive Higgs particle. I thought that the movie makers have done a pretty good job of explaining the theory of what the particle is, how it fits into the "Standard Model", and how the experimentalists expect to find with their incredibly large and complex equipment. It helps to watch it on DVD because you may want to back-up in few places for better comprehension. Also, several graphics are quite well done and help illustrate the complex theory. I have a much better understanding of the standard model from having paused DVD player and studied one of the graphics in particular.
So their is some technical content to be sure, but even to a layman like myself, it rarely came across as "mumbo-jumbo".