I have a confession. It took me three attempts to really understand A Beautiful Mind. The first time was on a flight with Johnnie Walker for company. My mind was playing tricks on me and I was totally confused. The second time I watched it frame by frame and listened to the dialogues but I missed the boat. In cricket parlance, this was a bouncer. The third time I got it right and it had a lasting impact on me.
This movie was released in 2001 by Ron Howard, who has earlier given us “Apollo 13” and “How the Grinch stole Christmas” (you will enjoy this, if you like Jim Carrey’s kind of humor).
This movie was all the more significant as a very close friend of mine is schizophrenic. In my friends case, my initial reaction was shock, then disbelief and then acceptance. It was in its early stages and is being treated with medicines.
The Story:
* Since this is a slightly old movie, I have taken liberties in divulging bits and pieces of the story – however even after knowing the story, it is a treat to watch this film.
This is a true story of John Nash, a professor of economics at Princeton who battled schizophrenia and was awarded a Nobel Prize for economics in 1994. John is always engrossed in his mathematical equations and his entire group is eyeing for prized positions after publishing research papers. John hits upon the idea of “Governing Dynamics” which revolutionized the 150 years old Adam Smith theory. He manages to get a prized position at Wheelers Labs and picks two of his friends as assistants. In between doing research work for the defense labs, he continues to teach where he meets Alicia. She gets attracted to him, marries him and they have a son. During all this time, strange things are happening to John – mostly in his mind – the portrayal of each of these events and how John combats them are the hallmark of the movie. John believes he is secretly working for the Government in tracking Russian missiles and helps them in deciphering code. The commitment with which he carries his job is very convincing. Alicia stands by her husband all along during this ordeal. Finally through lot of hardwork and sacrifices from Alicia, John comes back to normalcy and is awarded the Nobel Prize for economics in 1994 – his theory is currently applied to stocks and bonds and is widely accepted in security trading.
The Performances:
# Russell Crowe as John Nash. His was an Oscar worthy performance. He has aged beautifully in the movie and the shifty eyes, the shuffling gait, his conversations with his mind - were portrayed very convincingly. I cannot think of any other actor who could have done justice to this multi-dimension challenging role.
# Jennifer Connelly as Alicia. She played the role of a student / supportive wife with ease. She does have her frustrations in dealing with a person like John but she showed immense mental strength and sticks by him. One scene where she steals the show – John assures her he will take care of their son and puts him in the bath tub and starts the water – that is when Alicia realizes that he is having a relapse and she rushes in time to prevent the baby from drowning.
# Ed Harris as William Pritchard. He had that sinister presence in John’s mind and he keeps on egging John to do more.
# Paul Bettany as Charles. He is the “imaginary” room mate of John and is constantly battling with him to do better in his research.
# Adam Goldberg as Sol. He is one of the John’s assistants’ whom he picks up for his team to work on the Wheelers Labs project.
# Anthony Rapp as Bender. He also works on the Wheeler Lab project along with John.
# Christopher Plummer as Dr.Rosen. He is the psychologist who treats John and has given a restrained performance.
# Judd Hirsch as Helinger. He is the head of the department for whom John is working. A particular scene which is very touching is Helinger explaining to John the traditional process of gifting pens by colleagues for exemplary achievements and after John gets nominated for the Nobel Prize, he too is the recipient of this gesture from his colleagues.
# Macee is the cute little girl who does not age. Shhhhhhhhhhhh.
Overall A Beautiful Mind is a sad story. It reminds us of the frailties of the mind and helps us to be thankful for who we are.
Once in a while movies like these, with an Oscar deserving performance from actors like Russell, are like a shot in the arm.
If you have not yet watched this, I would recommend it with a rating of 5/5.
A Beautiful Mind is indeed beautiful, but very sad.