A big winner at Sunday's 74th annual Academy Awards..

Rating: 9/10 (24 March 2002)

Schizophrenia, a disease of the brain, is one of the most disabling and emotionally devastating illnesses known to man... It is characterized by a constellation of distinctive and predictable symptoms... These include thought disorder, delusions, and hallucinations...
The film recounts the story of John Forbes Nash Jr., a Princeton brilliant mind, who rides up to the heights of mathematical prowess, down through mental breakdown, and finally up to regain the equilibrium...
Russell Crowe ventures on a journey of fear, humiliation and vulnerability, giving a real and moving portrait of a troubled man whose gifts were his downfall...
We see him impolite and rude, too smart to have to attend class, lacking social skills, insulting the great ideas of his colleagues, calling their work derivative, and declaring, "To find a truly original idea is the only way to distinguish myself."
Nash is obsessed with patterns... He spends his days writing perplexing formulas on his dormitory window in search of a breakthrough idea... He gets it one night, while out with his fellow scholars at a local bar where a stunning blond grabs their attention... He recreates the design of a classmate's tie reflecting light through glass... He follows the movements of pigeons as they compete for food... He stares obsessively at too many numbers, and reveals his natural ability helping the Pentagon crack the mathematical codes the Soviets are using...
He becomes friend with his roommate, Charles Herman, who is everything he is not  charming and charismatic... He somewhat refines his social manners enough to win the love of a beautiful physics student who would become his wife...
Then he begins to look for secret messages in newspapers and magazines, interpreting vague, undecipherable connections between letters and numbers...
His mental derangement grows to uncontrolled proportions and the lines between reality and delusion begin to occur as his hallucinations take control of his life in every instant... Nash soon begins to understand the nature of his mental illness and, while he is never cured of his hallucinations behavior, eventually keeps struggling to overcome it...
Crowe imparts every facet of John Nash's personality with clarity and feeling... He wins our sympathy merely by showing us a man climbing to the top, falling to the very bottom, and through love and determination fully, recapturing his potential once again...
Jennifer Connelly begins to establish herself as a young actress to watch for... She exudes class and sophistication... She makes a marvelous loving wife forced to face the realities of schizophrenia... She tries to do what's best for her husband, but in the face of adversity to take the decision she does, it is inspiring to think that love is the seed of all hope, and what makes the ride worthwhile...
Paul Bettany gives another charming turn as Nash's only true friend... He is able to extend any sympathy or understanding, frequently pushing Nash to leave his inquiries for a pizza and beer break...
Ed Harris looks nicely menacing in his black fedora... You never know if the man is real, a delusion or both as he constantly drives Nash to the verge of insanity and beyond...
Adam Goldberg makes a quiet impression as a Princeton alumnus...
Ron Howard evokes the beauty of Nash's mind, and brings us with tenderness, the story of a tortured-genius... His choice to shoot much of the film from Nash's point-of-view is both effective and intriguing...
The film peacefully highlights the value of a very clever man who gains a beautiful heart, mainly through the love, faith and strength of his lovely wife...