The Most Dominant Best Picture Winner in Years.

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2002)

"A Beautiful Mind" is easily the finest best picture winner since "Titanic" and was a dominant movie during a year where several films could have been honored just as easily. John Forbes Nash (Russell Crowe in an Oscar-nominated performance) comes to Princeton in 1947 determined to make a name for himself in the complicated science of mathematics. The young mathematician struggles though as his mind and body are consumed with theories and amazingly complicated formulas. The torture and hard work do pay off eventually as Nash comes up with a game theory which leads to bigger and better things. Fast-forward a few years and now Nash is continuing research at Princeton, teaching and falling in love with one of his students (Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly). All seems to be going well until he is approached one day by a mysterious government agent (Ed Harris in a cryptic performance). Now Nash is doing top-secret work as he becomes immersed in code-breaking to stem the tide of communism against the Russians. But "A Beautiful Mind" goes much, much, much deeper than that. The film takes a dramatic turn during its mid-point and the subject turns 180 degrees as Nash is diagnosed with schizophrenia which causes paranoia and skewers what is reality and what is reality to John Nash. What then follows is a story about mental illness and the complications which accompany that sickness to those affected and those who care for those who are affected. John Nash becomes a could-have-been mathematician then as he is placed in a mental health institution in the 1950s where he must go through intense insulin-injected electro-shock therapy and then must take medications to fight his illness. The medications destroy Nash's ability to think properly and affects his physical demeanor as well. Nash then takes it upon himself to stop the medications and try to use his mind to cope with his illness. While Nash does somewhat succeed in that regard, it is his beautiful heart and the love and support of those closest to him that enable Nash to continue his work and eventually receive the Nobel Prize for his Game Theory in 1994. Of course all of this is based on a true story and the real John Nash still teaches today at Princeton. The film is a Hollywood project though as it has become apparent that the film-makers took many liberties to tell this important story. "A Beautiful Mind" is director Ron Howard's (Oscar-winning) masterpiece by a mile. Very few could have directed this film with the style and dignity that Howard displayed. This movie was all shot in chronological order, a rare feat by any director. The Oscar-winning screenplay by Akiva Goldsmith proved to be the really important thing that made the film work as well as it did. This is the best film hands down dealing with the subject of mental illness (I do not consider "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" a film about this topic because I question whether or not Jack Nicholson's character really had anything wrong with him mentally). However, I must warn all that the scene leading up to Nash's insulin-injected electro-shock therapy and the treatment itself are disturbing sequences that are difficult to get through. The film achieved a PG-13 rating, but those scenes could have warranted an R just as easily. All the aforementioned performances are super and Judd Hirsch and Christoper Plummer (who has an imperative role that basically explains all that happens) both give excellent supporting turns, but this is Crowe's show as he gives his greatest performance to date. Excellent film from an excellent cinematic year. 5 stars out of 5.