Introduction to the Movie
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 drama film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Brian Grazer. The film revolves around the life of John Forbes Nash Jr, a mathematician. Nash made a unique discovery when he was still young in his career, which propelled him to international standards. Handsome and arrogant, he later finds himself in a distressing and painful journey of self-discovery. He later overcomes the devastations and receives a Noble Price.
Movie Review
The film’s characters are real because they correspond to actual people. Nash has Schizophrenia, a psychological disorder that affects his career as a mathematician as well as his relationship with his wife Alicia (Fani, 2018). In the scene where Alicia is desperate to help his husband, she goes to the mailbox and retrieves top-secret documents that were delivered by Nash. She confronts Nash with this truth, and he realizes that he was hallucinating, which is a Schizophrenia symptom.
The actors’ performance in the film is fair and transmits what the character wants to share well. The movie shows the symptoms and the issues associated with Nash’s disorder through how he behaves and responds to his wife. The psychological disorder could be depicted in a better way by showing the actual thoughts of Nash in the form of an action (Howard, 2001). Whatever occurs in his mind before leaving the child in the bath tab and taking the letters to the mails can be shown to affirm the effect of the disorder.
The film gives the audience important messages, both positive and negative. The fact that Nash was able to get the Nobel Prize despite his mental disorder supports the principles of recovering from mental illness. In Princeton University, where Nash is pressured by his colleagues and faculty to quickly submit his papers for publication, he refuses and focuses on writing his original idea (Howard, 2001). This is a positive message of focus, originality and making your own.
A substantial relationship between the course and the film is evident. The young genius Nash, struggling to rebuild his career and marriage, is quite entertaining, and most of the audience will love it. The movie also has a fair choice of actors that represent the characters well, making the story real. Such productions are important in film studies as they show the reality of theoretical work in action.
Even though the movie is based on a true story, not everything is true. In the film, Nash struggles with a psychological disorder, and he is encouraged by his wife Alicia, whom he thanks in his Nobel prize speech (Fani, 2018). In reality, Nash’s wife divorced him during his illness, and they remarried later. Young Mr. Lincoln, a character in the movie, saves his law customer from a mob and proves that the prosecution witness is the real killer (Howard, 2001). In reality, Lincoln doesn’t save anyone; he only provides proof that the witness is unreliable.
Conclusion
A Beautiful Mind could have been made more entertaining by showing the reality of Schizophrenia disorder in a more detailed way. Some scenes in the movie, such as how Alicia struggles to support her husband, could have been made better by using the real story. Being alone after divorce could have portrayed too much suffering that people with mental illness face without caregivers.
References
Fan, S. (2018). The Schizophrenia in the main character of A Beautiful Mind movie directed by Ron Howard. Wanastra: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 10(1), 9-16. Web.
Howard, R. (2001). A Beautiful Mind [Film]. Hollywood; Universal pictures. Web.