A Beautiful Mind film review

certificate_12

A BEAUTIFUL MIND

A mathematician who goes mad is not a subject most directors consider commercially appealing, but then Ron Howard isn't most directors. Despite an impressive list of credits, A Beautiful Mind is his most accomplished work to date, combining a psychological drama with a moving love story to produce a film that is as fascinating as it is entertaining.

The Oscar winning Russell Crowe has put himself in line for further honours with his stirring portrayal of John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician afflicted with schizophrenia. A Beautiful Mind depicts the socially awkward, delusional Nash as an unconventional hero, not because of his academic achievements so much as the courage he displays while battling his illness. The vivid and effective manner in which his condition is illustrated provides A Beautiful Mind's most poignant moments with a chilling twist.

In 1947 Nash was one of many great young minds at Princeton."To find a truly original idea is the only way to distinguish myself," the conceited and driven student proclaimed. His obsessive quest for such an idea, scribbling equations on every available surface, afforded him little time for the normal collegiate socialising. His crippling shyness and blunt approach brought him few friends and prospective dates were reduced to objects in a theorem.

After finally hitting on a revolutionary new idea, Nash's career took off and his reputation was secured. He balanced research work with teaching, which is where he encountered the bright and beautiful student Alicia (Jennifer Connelly). Things in his life were going well when his aptitude for code breaking brought him to the attention of the military who employed him during the early stages of the cold war with Russia. The stress and isolation of his work took their toll and as Nash's illness developed so the margins between madman and genius became increasingly blurred.

At times Crowe's suspect accent and repertoire of tics become distracting, but his deep-rooted embodiment of the tortured Nash never wavers. He and Connelly ignite the film's passionate love story and Connelly gives a bravura performance as the beleaguered Alicia, whose courage, strength and faith in her husband are the primary reasons for his recovery.