"A Beautiful Mind" Review

"A Beautiful Mind"

MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for intense thematic material, sexual content and a scene of violence)

Distributors: Universal Pictures (USA), DreamWorks Pictures (International)

Production Company: Imagine Entertainment

Cast: Russell Crowe (John Forbes Nash, Jr.), Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Ed Harris, Judd Hirsch, Christopher Plummer, Jason Gray-Stanford, Anthony Rapp

Director: Ron Howard (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Backdraft, Ransom, Apollo 13, ED-TV; he's also got The Alamo in development); Screenplay by: Akiva Goldsman; Director of Photography: Roger Deakins.

Nominations: Best Picture (Drama), Best Director, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Supporting Actress (Connelly), Best Score, Best Screenplay, 2002 Golden Globes (tied with Moulin Rouge for the most nominations)

Awards: Best Picture (Drama), Best Actor (Drama) (Crowe), Best Supporting Actress (Connelly), Best Screenplay, 2002 Golden Globes; Best Film, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Supporting Actress (Connelly), Best Director (tie), 2002 Broadcast Film Critics Association; Best Featured Actress (Connelly), 2001 American Film Institute; Best Supporting Actress (Connelly), 2001 Online Film Critics Society

The Review...

A great deal of controversy has surrounded this film as concerns its deviation from Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr's struggle with schizophrenia and his ensuing accomplishments. And in the event the average moviegoer journeys to the theater expecting to see an actual depiction of Nash's life, after having read the book, you might find yourself disappointed in the end product.

Director, Ron Howard, has stated that the film is only "based" on Nash's life and is not intended to cover all of the turmoil of his personal life, nor is it intended to reveal all of the skeletons in his closet. The film is a study of schizophrenia, pure and simple. And if anyone has ever experienced firsthand a relationship with anyone diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, they will realize just how brilliant Crowe's performance as Nash really is.

John Forbes Nash Jr. (ultimately a Nobel Peace Prize Winner) was quirky, socially inept, egotistical and a mathematical genius at Princeton University in 1947. His paper on game theory, developed observing his peers pursue a blonde, challenged ideas established for 150 years. He triumphed again a few years later when one of his MIT students, the beautiful Alicia Larde (Jennifer Connelly) falls for and agrees to marry him. Eventually, her love is the only thing that keeps him afloat. The film begins in 1947 on the Princeton campus, where Nash is established as an oddball genius out of left field (West Virginia in fact). Obsessed with patterns, Nash recreates the design of a classmate's tie reflecting light through glass and charts the movements of pigeons as they vie for food.

After his breakthrough paper and years at Princeton, Nash accepts a post at M.I.T., which requires some teaching - a chore he considers a waste of time. Instead Nash becomes enthralled with the top secret research assignment he's given by shadowy government agent William Parcher (Ed Harris). Meanwhile, student Alicia has initiated romance (she's one of the few entranced by his mind and not turned off by his blunt words) and captivated Nash and the two wed, against Parcher's warning that Nash's potentially dangerous work is better suited to a single lifestyle. No sooner has Alicia become pregnant, than Nash is involved in an imaginary and dangerous shootout. When he tries to leave the project, Parcher threatens exposing him to the Russians, and the stress of the situation results in the breakdown that that will lead doctors to a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Parents should know that the material might be very upsetting for kids, or for anyone who has relatives with mental illness or who knows very little about it. There are some strong scenes of family tension and peril, including a child in jeopardy, scuffles, and potential domestic abuse. There are graphic scenes of shock therapy and self-destructive behavior. There is also some crude language with sexual references. Families who see this movie should talk about mental illness, about how people with mental illness need to be treated, and about what is different now in the way we treat the mentally ill from the days depicted in the movie.

Recommendation: Last, I will say that it takes a pretty meaty film to get me out of the comfort of home to stand in line to see a movie, as I am generally just as happy waiting for the video. This is one time; however, when the time and trouble were well worth the effort.

One critique: Director of Photography, Roger Deakins, could have done a lot more with the film.

Official Website: http://www.abeautifulmind.com/

Websites about Nash: http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Nash.html; http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1994/nash-autobio.html; Modest Home Page of Nash; The Theory of Games