Why "MIND" will win the TOP OSCAR March 24

Rating: 10/10 (14 March 2002)

The 2001 Ron Howard film, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, is more than a front runner in the race for a Best Picture Academy Award. It's the most traditional, logical, and emotional Best Picture among the major feature-length films vying in the category for that Hollywood "gold medal" triumph. This significant "team product" (Universal Studios, DreamWorks, and Imagine Entertainment) deserves the endorsement that only the top Oscar can convey! As a "traditional" pick, consider how this 2 1/2 hour film advances an invigorating "happy ending" format. The episodic chronicle of a mentally challenged individual, John Nash, and his long-suffering, supportive wife, Sylvia, neither ends with gloom nor doom. Some might object that such recent winners as AMADEUS and THE ENGLISH PATIENT ended with death by overwork, plane crashes, and euthanasia; however, their popular source material from novel or stage play dictated the outcome of their main characters, respectively. The typical American outlook is one of victory despite obstacles of all sorts. This winning depiction of a delusional schizophreniac even includes his Acceptance Speech at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in 1994. Like memorable and typical Hollywood biographies, this film offers basically glimpses of an overall success story. The Nash family remains held together despite extreme medical and psychiatric crises. Opponents of this film's sweep onto the 3/24 Victory Stand/Stage in Hollywood point out that the depicted couple actually divorced and separated, only later reconciling. Tradition favors memories of an uncomplicated nature and this film has an "uneasy" connection to what's real and what's not real at all. If it wins because of its comforting attitude, voters may sweep along to Best Actor and Best Director awards Russell Crowe and Ron Howard as they did when RAIN MAN, Dustin Hoffman, and Barry Levinson took home Oscars. Secondly, A BEAUTIFUL MIND is the most logical pick out of the primary competition (GOSFORD PARK, MOULIN ROUGE, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING). The Academy will likely be supportive of American-focused material for this first ceremony after the national tragedy of September 11, 2001; they'd perhaps promote the New Jersey-set film over those set in England and Paris (GOSFORD & MOULIN ROUGE). Other films with minor nominations have settings in the U.S.: MEMENTO, ALI, MONSTER'S BALL, and TRAINING DAY; I predict that some of these will spoil the races in several of the categories with their strongest performances or technical accomplishments. Voters of the Academy logically might be holding off any recognition of the first-of-three installments of THE LORD OF THE RINGS saga. Two more films will debut at Christmas 2002 and 2003. Like STAR WARS, STAR TREK, and INDIANA JONES, they might win at the box office while never taking home the Best Picture statuette. Thirdly, A BEAUTIFUL MIND packs an emotional wallop but yet doesn't fully flatten its audience. When I recently viewed certain of its most gripping sequences (in Nash's padded room or insulin therapy lab and in the small family bathroom), I was amazed at the overwhelmingly effective nature of the film's depiction of the ravages of mental illness. There was so much raw power on the screen; still, we cared about all the individuals involved without losing our connection to the story and its graphically depicted extremes. To contrast, the independently produced nominee, IN THE BEDROOM, took its audience on a roller-coaster ride that did "hit the solar plexus." Its pure realism about modern-day violence, from a short story by Andre Dubus deserved full recognition in this mega-category. Its chance to play "David" among the other "Goliaths" is hard to predict, at least right now. Older voters, a majority of Academy members, would favor some emotion without feeling immobilized and stunned senseless by it, in my opinion. In conclusion, A BEAUTIFUL MIND deserves the highest award on March 24 because of its conventional approach to an American success story, its logical preference to a "Middle-Earth" fantasy epic, and its emotional punch that moves us to terrain where we can catch our breath without wheezing in dire pain. When all is said and done, this Ron Howard-Brian Grazer production may not win all of its nominations but it stands the greatest chance of taking home the "gold" -- the Oscar for Best Picture 2001.