Although I usually do not get too excited about awards shows, I looked forward to this year’s Oscars because The Fellowship of the Ring
had been nominated so many times. Although the film I was rooting for
won four Oscars, it was superceded in many categories by one of two
movies: Moulin Rouge and A Beautiful Mind. When the latter
took the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, I became determined
to see it. Now that I have watched it, I still don’t know that I would
say it deserved the statue more than Fellowship – I’m rather biased in that area – but it certainly was worth watching.
Based on the life of Dr. John Nash (Russell Crowe), a brilliant but tortured mathematician, Mind
chronicles his career from graduate student to Nobel Prize recipient.
From the beginning, it is clear that Nash may have a way with numbers,
but his people skills are sorely lacking. His first meeting with his
peers reveals his awkwardness, which is borne primarily of arrogance.
Nash believes himself to be superior to nearly everyone he meets. He
sees classes as a waste of time and runs himself ragged trying to come
up with a truly original thought.
He is so intent on his work
that he would probably destroy himself if not for his “prodigal
roommate,” Charles (Paul Bettany). Charles is Nash’s antithesis, a
British English major whose effusive personality and party animal
tendencies bring Nash out of his shell. Still, Nash sees the world in
mathematic terms, and it is during an evening on the town that he
finally comes up with the original thought he has been searching for.
Flash forward five years, and Nash finds himself in the undesirable
position of sharing his knowledge with “eager young minds.” One
particular student decides to unravel the mystery surrounding this
eclectic professor. Unintimidated by his standoffish demeanor, Alicia
(Jennifer Connolly) sets out on a mission to connect with him.
Meanwhile, a trip to the Pentagon leads Nash to become enmeshed in a
project far more intrusive than it at first appears. His top secret
code-breaking for William Parcher (Ed Harris) of the CIA gradually wears
on his psyche, and as his married life with Alicia begins, he becomes
caught in a downward spiral culminating in an earth-shattering
revelation.
The remainder of the film deals with his upward
climb towards normalcy and his unending struggle to do something of
significance. Fairly depressing throughout, it still ends on a note of
hope. Although the movie deviates significantly from the true story, it
gives a suitable sense of the burden Nash has carried throughout his
life. Connolly deserved the award she received for her role, and Crowe
certainly did a good job, though at times I found his speech almost too
mumbly to be intelligible. My favorite character is Charles, who brings
much-needed levity and warmth to a number of scenes and balances Nash’s
rigidity. When the circumstances of Nash’s life change drastically, he
is also involved in what, for me, is the movie’s saddest scene. Ed
Harris is appropriately enigmatic as the increasingly sinister Parcher,
and Christopher Plummer turns in a fine performance as the psychiatrist
Nash never asked for.
I found myself seeing Craig Toomey of Steven King’s The Langoliers in Nash, an arrogant man haunted by his desperation to make something of himself. The film also reminded me of The Sixth Sense
in that it delivered a 180-degree twist that I did not anticipate
despite thinking I knew what to expect. Finally, the chronicling of this
professor’s life from his early twenties to his seventies was
reminiscent of Mr. Holland’s Opus.
I did not
particularly care for the movie’s Oscar-nominated soundtrack – though I
generally like Charlotte Church, this was a bit too much opera for me –
and, as I stated earlier, Crowe’s speech was difficult to decipher at
times. All in all, however, I found it a very well-crafted movie which
was worthy of the acclaim it received.
