`A Beautiful Mind' was happy and sad, courageous and helpless, showed love and hate, reality and fantasy.

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2003)

CONTAINS SPOILER! Wow! Finally a film worth `wooing' over! `A Beautiful Mind', directed by the critically acclaimed brilliant Ron Howard (`Apollo 13'), depicts the heroic yet tragic life of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash. Howard went to great lengths recreating two very distinct but very different worlds that Nash lived, a Princeton graduate and genius Mathematician, and then his delusional life of secrecy encrypting codes for the government while in constant paranoia of Russian detection. The film goes into great depth to show us that what we think and feel is real, may in fact be a figment of our imagination.
Unlike the intense action films, (`Gladiator' and `Proof of Life') we are used to seeing Russell Crowe in, here, he plays a much deeper part portraying his interpretation of John Nash. Don't look for an action-packed film here, this biography more so delves into the mind of a brilliant man losing control, battling schizophrenia. How refreshing it was to see Crowe become so engrossed and intertwined with the character he essentially `became'. Crowe captured the feelings of entrapment, loneliness, and confusion; Nash must have expressed living in a world of fantasy. Crowe acted with such grace and confidence that I wonder how it is possible for him to win an Oscar for his less than perfect performance in `Gladiator', only to be overlooked for his stellar performance in this film!
Not only did the film show us the awesome power of the mind, but also the power of unconditional love and hope. Jennifer Connelly gives an equally impressive performance as Alicia Larde, Nash's wife. She is the one stable aspect in Nash's life, but clearly shows you just how agonizing and painful it is for loved ones to live in a situation such as that depicted in the film. The love and hope of Nash's wife is what keeps him alive, it encourages him to fight the disease and never give up. Alicia is quoted, saying, `In order to make it, she had to believe that something extraordinary was possible'. And it was, together, the two fought and conquered the very illness that threatened to overtake John for so long.
`A Beautiful Mind' is a heartwarming film that shows a hero spiraling out of control, yet through love and determination, triumphs in the end. The film is very powerful, in that, it gives new appreciation to those having to live with this terrible disease of the mind. `A Beautiful Mind' was happy and sad, courageous and helpless, showed love and hate, reality and fantasy; everything necessary to create a timeless classic this film is sure to become.