A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Director: Ron Howard
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman (based on the book by Sylvia Nasar)
Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly 
Music: James Horner
Time: 135 minutes
Bottom-line: One of the best biopics ever made

Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart.
After numerous people suggesting that I put A Beautiful Mind on my “movies to watch” list, I finally got a chance to watch and review this masterpiece by Ron Howard. Following the success of Gladiator, Russell Crowe plays the lead role in the film, and is supported by Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and Paul Bettany. The film won four Academy Awards – Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay.

Crowe as Nash

He saw the world in a way no one could have imagined. 
1947 – John Nash (Crowe) arrives at Princeton University. He is involved with numbers, barely paying attention to anything else around him. The only person who seems to be getting along with him is his roommate, Charles Herman (Bettany). Nash is determined to publish an original idea, and develops a new concept of governing dynamics (known as the Nash equilibrium), following which he is offered an appointment at MIT. After being invited to the Pentagon to crack enemy codes, he meets a mysterious supervisor, William Parcher (Harris), who assigns Nash to look for patterns in newspapers and magazines to foil a Soviet plot. Nash also falls in love with, and later marries, a student, Alicia (Connelly). The rest of the film is about how Nash deals with his paranoid schizophrenia, and how it affects his family, his career, and his mind.

This was the time when Crowe was at the peak of his career, being nominated for Academy Awards in 1999 (The Insider), 2000 (winning it for Gladiator), and in 2001, for A Beautiful Mind. Crowe ended up bagging almost all major awards except the Oscar, which was won by Denzel Washington for Training Day. To me however, his performance as John Nash is by far the best of his career – thanks to his beautiful portrayal of emotions, and the perfection with which he played a schizophrenic. Whether it is his obsession with numbers, or his crazy acts due to his hallucinations, Crowe does it all superbly. Jennifer Connelly has a few bright spots in her career, and this role is one of her best. Despite a short screen time, she uses it well to play the loving wife of Nash, who has to take care of her family, and also support her husband, and deal with his paranoia. Towards the end when Nash acknowledges her affection by saying, “You're the only reason I am…you are all my reasons”, it just might bring a tear to your eye.

Connelly as Alicia

The film is not meant to be a literal representation of Nash’s life, according to the makers, but it gives a fairly accurate insight into the life of the genius. The film starts with Nash’s early days, and then it mainly focuses on his delusions and how others around him are affected by it, and finally ends in 1994, when Nash won the Nobel Prize for Economics. The reason it is one of the best biopics is because the film does not idolise Nash, rather it balances the good days of his life and the bad, giving the perfect insight in two hours. The sets, costumes and score were first class too.

Thanks to Ron Howard’s sensitive direction and Crowe’s committed performance – supported aptly by Connelly, Harris and Bettany – A Beautiful Mind captures the life of John Nash in a magnificent manner. If this film has been in your list for some time now, don’t wait any longer! You don't need to know game theory to know that the payoff you get on watching the film is well worth it!

My Rating: 5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 75%