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A Beautiful Mind
A. CASTS

Characters:
 Russell Crowe as John Forbes Nash, Jr.: A mathematical genius who is obsessed with
finding an original idea to ensure his legacy.
 Jennifer Connelly as Alicia Nash: A later student of Nash who catches his interest.
 Paul Bettany as Charles Herman. Nash's cheerful, supportive roommate and best friend
throughout graduate college.
 Ed Harris as William Parcher: A highly dedicated and forceful government agent for
the Department of Defense. He recruits Nash to help fight Soviet spies.
 Josh Lucas as Martin Hansen: Nash's friendly rival from his graduate school years at
Princeton. In the end, Hansen tells Nash that nobody wins, and they are at that point to
consider each other as equals.
 Adam Goldberg as Sol: A friend of Nash's from Princeton University who is chosen,
along with Bender, to work with him at MIT.
 Anthony Rapp as Bender: A friend of Nash's from Princeton University who is chosen,
along with Sol, to work with him at MIT.
 Vivien Cardone as Marcee: Charles' young niece.
 Christopher Plummer as Dr. Rosen: Nash's doctor at a psychiatric hospital.
 Judd Hirsch as Helinger: The head of the Princeton mathematics department.

Settings:

The movie took place in different settings. Among these were the Princeton University where
John Nash studied as a student and later on worked as a professor after he had recovered much
better from his mental illness, Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he worked as a
professor after graduation from college and eventually became his ‘office’ as a supposedly code
breaker for the U.S. Department of Defense or the Pentagon.

But the film was shot mostly at the Princeton University after MIT refused to have some scenes
of the movie taken inside their campus,

Conflict and Theme:

The major conflict and theme that is too obvious in this movie it is man versus himself. John
Nash is struggling to grasp which is reality and delusions. He is also struggling to keep himself
alive by trying to do what he should do as a normal human being and not to be swayed into doing
crazy things that are not real and would do no good to him.

Eventually, this showed up when his mental illness struck him again and he was made to choose
between what is real, which was his wife screaming at him to believe her, or the imaginary,
which was Parcher poking a gun at her wife attempting to shoot at her. At the end of the scene,
he finally woke up to reality.

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B. SCRUTINY OF THE MOVIE

1. What are the different factors that contributed to the character’s progressive
mental capabilities demise?
Answer: It all began when John Nash was asked to decipher radio signals being sent by the
Soviet Union for the Pentagon. He had been able to successfully do so and this is where he met
William Parcher, which is one of his imaginary characters who is supposedly giving instructions
to him on what he should do. But during his college days, he already showed these symptoms
when he had an imaginary room mate named Charles. It is not clear what happened but it could
be because he is bothered in coming up with an original idea for his paper.

2. How did it affect his career? Family? Himself?

Answer: It affected him much because he had been kept himself away from others and he always
had suspicions that the enemy, the Soviets, are after him because of his ability to decipher. He
was eventually kicked out of his job as a professor because of what the unusual behavior that he
is showing.

With his family, his wife is the most affected because he is not able to become a good husband to
her – emotionally and physically. He was also gravely affected and he was not able to be think
clearly and decides on impulse and when his illness strikes again, he succumbs to it and do what
his imaginary characters says to him.

3. Why did the character inspite of recovering seemed to choose illusion over reality?
Answer: This is because the medication he is taking seems to degrade his capacity to think and
solve Math problems. He was also unable to love his wife physically. So he started not taking in
his much needed medications and started to live ‘normal’ again which eventually led to his
mental illness going back again.

4. How did he escape the release?

Answer: That moment happened when he was confronted with both reality and delusions. Infront
of him was Parcher and his wife, it was such a emotional confrontation that got Nash thinking
and eventually, because he noticed that Parcher, Charles and the little girl are not growing old, he
finally got sense of what the real thing is.

5. In your opinion, what should people do who encounter such cases react to them?
Answer: People should not pre-judge them. Most of the time, people think that they got crazy
because they are too intelligent when in fact there are other reasons behind their mental illness.
What people should give is understand them and let them feel that they are loved and valued by
someone else.

6. What role did the wife play with his recovery?

Answer: She never left her husband despite knowing his illnesses and even his shortcomings as a
husband and father. She stood by his side on the darkest days of his life and eventually in the
end, she was the reason why his husband got back to reality. She showed what a true love is that
no matter what happens she was always there for him.

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7. How did the movie affect you?

Answer: I was made to think about the condition of persons with mental illness like this in our
hospitals. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering that they are undergoing everyday because they
had to undergo several treatments everyday. Aside from that, the completely lost their grip on
reality and they are being abandoned by their family and friends – which John Nash is lucky that
he did not experienced it because by his wife never left him.

8. What part of the movie moved you the most?

Answer: It was that part wherein John Nash had to make a decision – to save his wife or
succumb even more to his delusions. It showed how we are often faced with life-changing
decisions that could either make or break us. Happily, it ended with him going back to the real
world.

9. What was the significance of the little girl and the man the character always see?
Answer: It could be because he was a loner that his mind started to create imaginary people that
would value, love and care for him. That’s why his wife’s role is important in helping him
recover because all through his life, he feels un-loved by people. It also tells us that man cannot
really live by himself. He needs companions, family and loved ones around him that would
support, care and love him always.

10. Narrate that part of the movie wherein they become significant?
Answer: Usually, the two appears on scenes wherein he is always alone. Maybe, that was one
way to cope with his loneliness that he want to have an instant companion that he would talk to
even though it is unconsciously happening to him.

C. SUMMARY (200-250 words)

The movie is based on a true story of a famous mathematician named John Forbes Nash. Russel
Crowe played the role of Nash and the movie was directed by Ron Howard. Nash is shown in the
film as a struggling student who wants to prove himself to others. Eventually, he was able to
formulate the ‘game theory’ which was an idea that popped out of his mind after their stint at a
local bar. It was also during his college days that his delusions started when he had an imaginary
room mate named Charles and his niece. He eventually worked as a professor at MIT and seems
to have a guaranteed rosy future in the early '50s after he marries beautiful student Alicia
(Jennifer Connelly). Soon after, John is visited by Agent William Parcher (Ed Harris), from the
CIA, who wants to recruit him for code-breaking activities. But evidence suggests that Nash's
perceptions of reality are cloudy at best; he is struggling to maintain his tenuous hold on sanity,
and Alicia suspects a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. Battling decades of illness with the
loyal Alicia by his side, Nash is ultimately able to gain some control over his mental state, and
eventually goes on to triumphantly win the Nobel Prize.

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