The word I'm searching for is "amazing"

Rating: 10/10 (13 June 2009)

A Beautiful Mind tells the story of John Nash (Crowe), a brilliant mathematician. It begins by showing his days as a student at Princeton, where he searches for a completely original idea, something that will earn him widespread recognition. This goes on for about the first 25 minutes, and it is positively brilliant. But then, something happens. The next 20 or so minutes are extremely predictable and dull, as if it came straight out of a spy novel. This is my fault, though, because I find out as little as possible about a movie before seeing it. Had I tried finding out a little more about A Beautiful Mind, I would've surely seen the reason for this. Long story short, I wasn't expecting the major plot twist that came around the hour mark of the film, and that just blew me away. That dull 20 minutes is something I appreciated only when viewing the segment again, this time with the knowledge of why it seemed so dull.
*** If you know positively nothing about ABM's plot, I strongly recommend skipping the following ***
The praise for A Beautiful Mind is completely justified. Russell Crowe was positively robbed of an Oscar, as his performance is completely and wholly captivating from beginning to end. It is essentially due to his fantastic acting that Ron Howard brilliantly portrays schizophrenia. Researching the film a little more, I found that the movie takes enormous liberties with the real-life events it is based on, and has been heavily criticized for it. I disagree with such criticism. There is no way for a director to capture on film the mind of a schizophrenic. Nash's delusions are altered from auditory, but these liberties serve only to make them more powerful, shocking, and disturbing on screen. This is what makes the film so darn good— it captures the absolute pandemonium of the life of a schizophrenic. I really couldn't care less if the exact delusions experienced are not shown, so long as the atmosphere of such delusions is portrayed. The horror of Nash's tumultuous life is brilliantly captured when he "attacks" his wife, thinking he is defending her from a gunman.
*** Safe to read from here on ***
The Verdict: A Beautiful Mind might not be faithful to the source material it is based on, but it transfers the atmosphere of the source material perfectly on screen. Russell Crowe's brilliant acting proves to be the film's foundations, along with Ron Howard's brilliant direction. (By the way, a special mention goes out to Vivien Cardone for a straightforward, yet bone-chilling, performance.) Truly a great movie, A Beautiful Mind is quite an achievement— undoubtedly the Best Picture of 2001.
Overall Rating: 10/10.