Right actor, wrong year?

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2002)

I'm sure there are a few members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who are kicking themselves for giving Russell Crowe the Best Actor Oscar in the wrong year. Crowe won last year for the costume epic Gladiator, although nominee Ed Harris was more deserving for his work in Pollock. This year, Crowe's stellar performance in A Beautiful Mind could be overlooked simply because he won last year. That would be a shame, because Crowe's portrayal of John Nash, the Nobel Prize-winning mathematician who has battled schizophrenia, is one of the top performances in film this year. Crowe covers 47 years of Nash's life, ranging from his grad school days at Princeton to his winning of the Nobel Prize. In between, he goes through hell. In a role far removed from Gladiator, Crowe is utterly convincing as the troubled, socially inept Nash. From the film's beginning to the crisis point in Nash's illness, the tale is told from Nash's perspective-which gives director Ron Howard and scriptwriter Akiva Goldsman the chance to shine. Nash's delusions are apparent from the beginning-if you know where they are. They are interspersed with reality so well that they're bound to, at least partially, surprise the viewer when they are revealed. The result is a fascinating look at an illness whose hallucinations can seem all too real. Jennifer Connelly adds depth to her role as Alicia, Nash's long-suffering wife, who (at least in the movie) perseveres throughout Nash's illness and aids him to a gradual recovery. This film has been criticized for taking liberties with facts surrounding Nash. Some have argued that the film misrepresents schizophrenia and places it at the wrong time in Nash's life. Others have complained that the film fails to note that Nash fathered an illegitimate child, was divorced from Alicia for quite some time, and is allegedly bisexual.
This is one of those movies where the results are powerful enough to justify a less-than-factual account. On its own terms, A Beautiful Mind is a moving tale of triumph over adversity, not to mention a classic love story.
***1/2 (out of four)