Genius

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2002)

"A Beautiful Mind" is one of those projects that would look like a hard sell to a producer upon close examination. Think about its premise: the story of the co-recipient of the Nobel prize for economics in 1994, a mathematical genius who was nearly overlooked because he was a paranoid schizophrenic. There is no doubt that Ron Howard and Russell Crowe's involvement was crucial to the film's coming to pass, but before one frame was shot, someone had to say "yes." Sylvia Nasar, upon whose novel the screenplay is based, must have been as surprised as anyone when producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard came calling.
This is the kind of story that wouldn't seem to lend itself to film narrative-it may not have had it not been for Akiva Goldsman and Howard's approach to the material. They leave out details of John Nash's life, glamorize people and events, all in the name of creating the best film possible. The difficulty in adapting Nasar's novel was that so much of the story goes on in Nash's head. Goldsman's script is one of the best I've ever seen put to film. It's part human drama, part perception-tampering psychological thriller. Another challenge is Nash himself. By now it's well known that the man had an awful personality. Goldsman doesn't shy away from this, but turns it to the movie's advantage. Crowe's remarkable performance as Nash is heartbreaking. The man is obviously a very dedicated mathematician, with all these ideas, but doesn't have the disposition to get them across. He's his own worst enemy.
The actual love story between Nash and his wife is altered, again, for the purposes of making the Nash character at all likeable. Nash had a son with Eleanor Stier before he ever met Alicia Larde. He never married Eleanor, who reportedly wished he would, but married Alicia. She divorced him in 1963 but did keep him from returning to a mental institution and stood by him while he fought his mental illness. The two were re-married recently.
Any inaccuracies or liberties taken have been excused by phrases attached to "Beautiful Mind" such as inspired by' or based on.' This film has critics scoffing over the way it oversimplifies Nash's ordeal, and yet those same critics turn around and unanimously bestow it with Best Picture nominations and awards, Top Ten list entries, praise for Goldsman, Howard, Crowe, and Jennifer Connelly. They need to remember that if Howard and company were for some reason forced to depict the events of Nash's life more truthfully, "Mind" never would have been made or worse, it would have been an inferior film. The industry needs more pictures like this one. Not that anyone in Hollywood cares what critics think anyhow.
Look for "A Beautiful Mind" to earn Crowe his second straight Oscar. Wins for Connelly and Goldsman are also likely. A shame, though, that Roger Deakins has been getting such well-deserved attention for his cinematography on "The Man Who Wasn't There," his work on this film may be overlooked.
Grade: A