Exceptional acting, VERY important movie

Rating: Null/10 (30 May 2004)

John Nash the man had more to hide than the move projected, but that's forgivable because it's a movie and it has a time limit. The descent into the hell that Nash lived with is well articulated, providing a sense of the disorientation that people with mental illness must feel. The movie looks good and gives a sense of time and movement, very much in line with a mathematics subject.
But the amazing grace of this whole project is Russell Crowe. He was spectacular as Nash; vivid, intense, and true. His inability to meet the eyes of others particularly at the beginning was very realistic, as was the inability to carry on appropriate social interactions. One can see high-functioning autism in these actions (Asperger's Syndrome), and personally were very rewarding to watch as I recognized and felt vindicated in observing these behaviors in such an intelligent man. While AS doesn't normally lead to schizophrenia, many geniuses tend to have autistic behaviour patterns or social skills issues which supports the age-old presumption that genius and eccentricity go hand in hand. And many with AS are incredibly brilliant and very highly focused which makes them strong intellectuals. In general, Nash's behaviour was portrayed as eccentric at best and Crowe's treatment of the eccentricity and eventual schizophrenia was remarkable.
Some lines were very illuminating such as when 'Nash' says that he shuns books and teachers because he wants to be original in his thought. This is not as uncommon an approach as one would think for talented individuals; the fear of adopting another's thought or attitude can be stifling to a creative, original process. Unfortunately, that was almost all I learned intellectually from the film aside from Nash's approach to out think his disease.
I love Ron Howard for doing this film, and Russell Crowe made Nash seem almost too sexy for his shirt, but I loved every minute of it. It needs to be viewed more than once as there is much to notice: his writing on glass (transparency), his infinity signs, his web, his patterns, his thinking in pictures which is very Asperger's/autistic, even his relationship with Alicia which once again supports the lack of social skills. What we 'normal' folk take for granted, those with socialization issues grapple with daily and they should be respected as humans and not made fun of. Children with socialization issues are mercilessly teased and ridiculed and hence hurt as Nash was as a child. All of us need to teach our children to recognize and respect those lacking in social skills. This is a great great movie to sensitize ourselves to all those with social skills issues not necessarily as profound as schizophrenia but apparent, and to teach our children to recognize and respect other children with socialization issues.