A BEAUTIFUL MIND

MOVIE REVIEW

Released on December 21, 2001

Earned gross revenue of $170,742,341
Won four Academy Awards
 STARRING

JohnNash……………………………………………………………….RussellCrowe
One of the greatest mathematical geniuses of the 20 th century, who won the Nobel Prize in 1994,
studied and taught at Princeton University, and suffered from the mental disease of schizophrenia
for most of his adult life.

Alicia…………………………………………………………….…………….JenniferConnelly
John’s beautiful, intelligent and loving wife who stayed with him from the 1950s to after 2000,
despite the difficulties of living with a person with severe mental illness.

Parcher……………………………………………………………..………….EdHarris
An agent of the US government who convinces John to help break secret Soviet codes, in order
to prevent a horrible nuclear attack on the United States.

Charles………………………………………………………………………….PaulBettany
John’s roommate at Princeton who studied English literature

MartinHansen………………………………………………………………JoshLucas
A brilliant math student at Princeton and colleague of John’s who later becomes head of the
Princeton math department.

Dr. Rosen…………………………………………………………………Christopher Plumber

A psychiatrist in Boston who identifies John’s Schizophrenia and helps him and Alicia to live
with the disease.
 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.
THEME
The major theme that is too obvious in this movie 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 his wife
was 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, he finally woke up to reality.

PLOT SUMMARY
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. All that one sees in the movie can be
conclude in following lines:

Our mind is but a lump of clay

That Fate, grim potter, holds
On sorrow's wheel that rolls away,
And, as he pleases, molds.
 SCRUTINY OF THE MOVIE

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 are 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.
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.
The character in spite of recovering seemed to choose illusion over reality, because the
medication he is taking seems to degrade his capacity to think and solve Math. 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. When he was confronted with both reality and delusions was
the moment he escape the release. In front of him was Parcher and his wife, it was such an
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. The
role of his wife in the recovery is very crucial 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.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The narrative of the film differs considerably from the actual events of Nash's life. The film has
been criticized for this, but the filmmakers had consistently said that the film was not meant to be
a literal representation. One difficulty was in portraying stress and mental illness within one
person's mind. Sylvia Nasar stated that the filmmakers "invented a narrative that, while far from
a literal telling, is true to the spirit of Nash's story". The film made his hallucinations visual and
auditory when, in fact, they were exclusively auditory. So in order to heighten the feeling of
realism and maximize the truth of A beautiful Mind, the film makers have shot the entire movie
in continuity; filming each scene in the actual order of the story. Russell’s journey as John Nash
is complex and emotionally charged with profound psychological shifts from one scene to
another. The film shifts stylistically from era to era and phase to phase of Nash’s life. The tone,
lighting and composition shifted with Nash’s psychological and emotional states, his level of
duress, and the emotional connection he felt or did not feel with Alicia, his colleagues or his own
ideas. A lot of research went into this film as the writer and the director went in deep into the
core of Nash’s life. They were honored to have John Nash himself on the sets to give a real feel
to the film; especially Russell who picked up nuances to improvise during acting. The director
has tried to orient the audience at the same level as John Nash, telling the story from his point of
view making mental illness more understandable. Right from make up to costumes, every single
detail was thought about.
This movie is scattered along with both touching and witty moments. Owing to the powerful and
convincing acting, as well as the gripping and suspense-filled plot, which never fails to surprise,
it successfully retains the audience’s interest throughout the entire 130 minutes. Moreover,
because the viewers see the life through the protagonist’s eyes, they fully understand the
emotional drives that fueled John; they feel the tension while he was working out solutions and
catch a glimpse of the courage and support that carried him through the ordeal. In addition to
this, the wonderful choice of haunting music accompanying haunting images and excellent
setting are hints of the director’s painstaking care for details. On the whole, it is a well worth
seeing movie, since the story comes down to love and courage, two concepts which should be
more emphasized in today’s society. I would recommend it to anyone who is fond of inspiring
movies with a happy ending.

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