The Current War

“Power changes everything”

Two systems for sending electricity into American homes are on the market, and neither inventor will accept that the country can only wire itself one way. Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) backs direct current, George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) bets on alternating, and Nikola Tesla (Nicholas Hoult) is drawn in. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon sets the contest as a question of who gets to decide how a whole nation lights its rooms.