A Beautiful Mind

Biographical Drama

Director - Ron Howard (Apollo 13, How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

2001, Rated PG13 for intense material, sexual content and some violence, 2 hours, 16 minutes.

Based on the book A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar.

I rented this film a few weeks ago. I had wanted to see it but was turned off by Russell Crowe. If you're in the same boat, don't let that stop you for it's an excellent movie.

This is part one of my first double entry into the Excellent and Excruciating Write-off being co-hosted by two great fellas: CaptainD and Slarter. It requires two postings in a category, one a five star review, the other one star. A link to my corresponding one star movie review will be at the bottom.

The story of A Beautiful Mind begins in September 1947 at Princeton University where John Forbes Nash (Russell Crowe, Master and Commander, Gladiator) is a new mathematics student. He's shy, a loner with nervous mannerisms, he doesn't like people and they don't like him. Nash is obsessed with discovering a breakthrough in mathematics. He wants to come up with one big idea so he will finally be important and his existence will be justified. John doesn't even attend any classes, he is so caught up with this goal. The stress he puts himself through places him in danger of failing school and he begins to break down both emotionally and mentally. One evening a friend convinces him to go out for a few drinks and while there John gets an idea. He develops it into a groundbreaking new economic theory and finally realizes his dream.

A Beautiful Mind then skips to five years later where Nash is a professor at M.I.T. He has been called on to work for the Pentagon, assisting them in breaking radio transmission codes originating from Moscow. He stands staring at the code and breaks it simply with his mind. Back at M.I.T. he meets a young and beautiful student named Alisha, (Jennifer Connelly, House of Sand and Fog, The Hulk) They begin dating and a romance blossoms. Nash is secretly approached once again by the Pentagon who need help breaking a code they believe is being published in newspaper and magazine articles. The government believes Russia is preparing to detonate an atomic bomb on U.S. soil. In the midst of this, John and Alisha marry and begin a family but she knows nothing about his secret work. Nash spends hours a day reading through articles looking for links that will help him learn the code embedded there. He pens reports and drops them at an isolated mail box where the Pentagon later retrieves them. One night during the drop there is an attempt on John's life and this pushes him over the precarious edge he has traveled for so many years in his mind. He breaks down and is admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he tries to tell his wife about the conspiracy and how he must be released to continue his vital work to protect America. Alisha goes to the place he would drop off the packages and finds them all still there. We discover John has invented this imaginary world where he is working for the government, he also invented many people in his life that never really existed, such as his college room mate, this room mates niece, the government contacts and others. When these things are revealed to John he mutilates himself in a gory scene to try and find the computer chip he believes the government embedded in his arm. He is restrained, medicated and begins having seizures.

One year later John is out of the hospital and his delusions are gone because of the medication he must take. However, this medication also dulls his mind and he can no longer work through mathematics. He secretly stops taking the pills and his delusions begin to return. Alisha eventually discovers John is sinking back into the imaginary world he created where he is working for the government. She tries to reason with John but in has delusion he thinks she has become a threat to him. This frightens Alisha and she tries to escape with their young child. When she attempts to drive away John has a breakthrough, realizing the young niece of his room mate from years ago has not aged at all during the years he has known her. In a heart-wrenching scene, John and Alisha decide to work together through the delusions that John now acknowledges as just that. He still sees imaginary people but tries to ignore them. John and Alisha return to Princeton where he convinces an old friend to let him teach classes. In 1994, Nash is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics for the breakthrough discovery he made years ago as a student. The film closes at the award ceremony where Nash thanks the woman who stood by him through every trial.

I have never been much of a fan of Russell Crowe so I resisted seeing this film for a long time despite the fantastic reviews it got. I shouldn't have allowed my dislike of Crowe to get in the way for he is brilliant in this. Since he plays Nash, who the film is based on, it makes sense he's in almost every scene. I was not expecting Crowe to produce the performance he does here but he is truly outstanding, he becomes Nash. The mannerisms as a student, the descent into delusions, the determination to help his country, his fear and vulnerability upon realizing how ill he is, they are all completely believable. This film showed me Crowe is capable of great things.

Jennifer Connelly also surprised me. She's always been a likable actor but not one I would consider particularly deep. However, she brings to life the pain and fear the real Alicia Nash must have gone through. Her love and strength allowed John to continue in the career he loved. It would have been easy to have him committed to an institution but she continually resists that and dedicates her life to helping John. In many ways she is the true hero of the story.

Makeup in the film was especially well done, considering how difficult it really is to age an actor and make it look real. I was impressed with that aspect of the movie too.

Some people may find parts of the film too sentimental and sappy, I usually have a sensitive radar for that sort of thing. However, this story is about a brilliant man's struggle with schizophrenia and the woman who courageously stood by him through it all so I expected sappy moments. When these moments occurred they felt real to me and that made them acceptable without the falseness they usually come with. While at times the plot moved a little slowly, those times were few and far between. Since this was not made as a documentary it came as no surprise to me when, in the end credits, it was mentioned some characters were composites or had been invented, also some incidents were fictionalized. It also came as no surprise to learn some aspects of Nash's life were glossed over and ignored, again, it was not produced as a documentary. When viewed as entertainment, A Beautiful Mind succeeds brilliantly.

Following the film there is a short documentary on the real John Forbes Nash who collaborated with the filming. It is very short and I would have liked to learn more about this brilliant man.

Cast:

Russell Crowe - John Nash
Ed Harris - William Parcher
Jennifer Connelly - Alicia Larde Nash
Christopher Plummer - Dr. Rosen
Paul Bettany - Charles Herman
Adam Goldberg - Sol
Josh Lucas - Martin Hansen
Anthony Rapp - Bender
Jason Gray-Stanford - Ainsley
Judd Hirsch - Prof. Helinger
Austin Pendleton - Thomas King
Vivien Cardone - Marcee Herman
Victor Steinbach - Prof. Horner
Tanya Clarke - Becky

For a comprehensive and, I assume, accurate overview of the life of John Nash, you can check out the following web sites:
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Nash.html
http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1994/nash-autobio.html

For my corresponding Excruciating review in this write-off please click here.

To join in this Write-off, click here or here. My thanks to Dave and Simon for coming up with a challenging idea.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older