Beautiful Mind, A (2001)

3.5 out of 4

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Christopeher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg

Director: Ron Howard

Time: 134 mins

It's awards season again, so let's roll out the dramatic heavy-hitters. The usual suspects often include films featuring a story about a mentally or physically disabled person (for example, Rain Man), and 2001 is no exception. Not only did the month of December see the release of I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn as someone who has the mental capacity of a child, but also A Beautiful Mind, the story of troubled mathematician and Nobel laureate John Nash. It's a beautifully told and wonderfully acted story, even if it sidesteps some of the more controversial and less wholesome aspects of Nash's life.

The film bears more than a passing resemblance to 1996's Shine, about the Australian pianist David Helfgott. Helfgott suffered a mental breakdown during an acclaimed recital and became a recluse, before slowly coming back into the world with the help of his wife. In A Beautiful Mind, John Nash (Russell Crowe) is a brilliant young mathematician at Princeton, who comes up with the important concept of game theory. Though a bit of a loner, he becomes firm friends with his roommate, English scholar Charles (Paul Bettany). Later, while at MIT, his introspective nature attracts the attention of Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), one of his students, whom he eventually marries. When his groundbreaking work attracts the notice of Parcher (Ed Harris), a shadowy type who enlists him to break codes embedded in magazine articles and other written material, Nash grows increasingly paranoid, to the point where he has to be treated for schizophrenia by Dr Rosen (Christopher Plummer).

A Beautiful Mind is a classic story of redemption, of a genius who is troubled by demons of his own making and then slowly finds his way back. Though often dark and painful to watch, Nash's struggle back into the real world is an absorbing and ultimately uplifting tale. One can carp that the less savoury portions of Nash's life, such as his divorce, are not even mentioned, let alone glossed over or hinted at, but A Beautiful Mind is more a story about overcoming adversity than a full warts-and-all biography. To this end, director Ron Howard (of such commercially pleasing films like The Grinch, Ransom, and Parenthood) manages to pull the heartstrings without going totally overboard in begging for sympathy.

Part of the pleasure in watching A Beautiful Mind is to be a witness to the two excellent performances from the leads. Russell Crowe, still fresh from his Oscar win last year for Gladiator, as well as a Best Actor nomination for The Insider the year before, is extraordinary as the mentally ill Nash. Introverted, with a host of body tics and mannerisms, Crowe brings the genius to full-blooded, compelling life. Nash is not an especially likable fellow, but his strong personality and a way of upstaging some of his colleagues with some humorous asides draws one into the rarefied world of academia. The beautiful Jennifer Connelly, for years just considered a pretty face, comes into her own as Alicia, the student who falls for and marries Nash. Though not as showy a part, Connelly imbues Alicia with the right amount of strength and determination, not to mention elegance, to win our admiration.

The supporting actors are also good in their roles, though they obviously have less screen time than Crowe and Connelly. Ed Harris, who should have won a Best Supporting Oscar for his role in Howard's Apollo 13 (1995), is adequate as the government type who shadows Nash and his work. Christopher Plummer (The Sound Of Music) is warm as the doctor, and Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan) fine (if underused) as a colleague and later an assistant of Nash's. Most impressive is Paul Bettany as Charles, Nash's English scholar roommate. Bettany was the best thing about the dismal A Knight's Tale, and he lends good support here as well.

Having won a slew of Golden Globes a few weeks ago, A Beautiful Mind is now the obvious front runner for the major Academy Awards. It's not a startling or even original film, but that's not always a bad thing. With a fine cast and some excellent performances, A Beautiful Mind brings a compelling story to the screen, and the result is rich, rewarding, and - yes - even a little uplifting.

(c) Joe Wong (18 February 2002)