The Tormented Soul of the Mathematician

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 2009)

There is so much pain in this film, it is so unsettling. While hard to watch, I couldn't take my eyes off it. The central character abuses drugs, hides, and lives in a circle of computer hardware, like a kind of Phantom of the Opera organ. He plays with numbers and sees patterns. People are aware of him because he has insights into the stock market and, ultimately, the Hassidic faith. He is pursued by bad guys, but it is ultimately his own demons that go after him. He drills holes in his head and punches drugs into his system. Eventually he finds a set of 216 numbers that provide and answer and incredible danger. This movie is not for everyone. It is so frantic, moving at the breakneck pace of an amphetamine high. Because I admire mathematics, I will take those three repeated premises with me: (1) that mathematics is the language of the universe, (2) nature can be expressed in numbers, and (3) there are patterns everywhere. I won't look at the world quite the same after this.