Netflix’s new film UNABOMBER is streaming now, telling the real life story of Ted Kaczynski, the mathematics prodigy who later carried out a bombing campaign across the United States that killed three people and injured 23 others between 1978 and 1995.

Directed by Janus Metz, the film looks back at Kaczynski’s life before and during the years that eventually led to his capture. Jacob Tremblay plays the younger Kaczynski, with Russell Crowe starring as Harvard professor Henry Murray, Shailene Woodley as FBI agent Joanne Miller and Annabelle Wallis as Christiana Morgan.

Is UNABOMBER Based on a True Story?

Yes. UNABOMBER draws from documented events in Kaczynski’s life, beginning with his years as a gifted student and continuing through his withdrawal from society, the bombing campaign and the FBI investigation that eventually identified him. Kaczynski was born in Chicago in 1942 and entered Harvard University at just 16 after showing exceptional ability in mathematics. He later studied at the University of Michigan, earning a master’s degree and doctorate, before becoming a professor at the University of California, Berkeley at the age of 25. He left the university in 1969 and eventually moved to a remote cabin near Lincoln, Montana, where he lived without electricity or running water.

What Did Ted Kaczynski Do?

Kaczynski’s first known bombing took place in 1978, when a homemade device was sent to a professor at Northwestern University and exploded after being opened by a campus security officer. The following year, a device placed aboard an American Airlines flight caused smoke inhalation injuries and forced the plane to make an emergency landing.

His targets over the following years included universities, airlines and people associated with technology and industrial society. The FBI used the case name UNABOM, short for “University and Airline Bombing”, which eventually led to the media nickname “Unabomber”. In total, 16 attacks were connected to the case between 1978 and 1995, killing Hugh Scrutton, Thomas Mosser and Gilbert Murray and injuring 23 people.

How Was the Unabomber Caught?

A major breakthrough came in 1995 when Kaczynski sent a lengthy manifesto titled “Industrial Society and Its Future” to The Washington Post and The New York Times, demanding that it be published. The roughly 35,000-word document outlined his opposition to modern technological society and industrialisation.

The FBI supported publication in the hope that somebody would recognise the writing. Kaczynski’s sister-in-law, Linda Patrik, noticed similarities between the manifesto and material she had previously seen from him and raised her concerns with his brother David. After comparing the manifesto with an older essay, David contacted the FBI, giving investigators the lead that would ultimately end the case.

Federal agents arrested Kaczynski at his Montana cabin on 3 April 1996. Investigators found bomb-making materials, coded diary entries, tens of thousands of pages of handwritten notes and a completed bomb inside the property. He later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, remaining incarcerated until his death in 2023 at the age of 81.

What Happened to Ted Kaczynski at Harvard?

One part of Kaczynski’s early life explored by the film involves his time at Harvard, where he participated in psychological experiments overseen by professor Henry Murray. Murray worked alongside Christiana Morgan at the Harvard Psychological Clinic and was involved in controversial stress experiments involving students.

Russell Crowe plays Murray in the Netflix film, with Annabelle Wallis portraying Morgan. Wallis has spoken about being interested in Morgan’s role in the psychological work carried out at Harvard and the extent of her involvement alongside Murray.

How Accurate Is Netflix’s UNABOMBER?

The film is grounded in documented events, but it is still a dramatised interpretation. Netflix and the filmmakers have acknowledged that creative liberties were taken around areas where the historical record leaves gaps, meaning not every scene or conversation should be treated as a literal recreation of events.

Tremblay has said those gaps gave the actors and filmmakers room to create their own version of parts of the story. That means the major events surrounding Kaczynski’s education, crimes, manifesto and capture have a historical basis, but some character interactions and details have been dramatised for the film.

For CultureCues, UNABOMBER is the kind of true-crime film that immediately sends us down the research rabbit hole. The real story is disturbing enough on its own, and looking back at Kaczynski’s early years, the Harvard experiments and the long investigation that eventually identified him makes for a fascinating watch. With Jacob Tremblay taking on such a difficult role alongside Russell Crowe and Shailene Woodley, this is definitely one we expect people to be talking about over the weekend.

UNABOMBER is streaming now on Netflix.

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