There are very few movies that leave an impact of such sizable proportions on your mind that you start to realize how ludicrous the other films are in comparison. I know! Not every film or book will be equally great and every piece of art has its set target audience, but there are some films which transcend boundaries and appeal to every soul. Now I don’t think ‘A beautiful mind’ was that movie, but I definitely wanted it to be!
I remember the day I happened to come across this film- I rejected it straightaway thinking it to be a serious- plain film. Nothing of consequence. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
What starts of as a simple beginning with a slightly different, oddball kid being shown attending a university goes on to become one of the most intriguing, emotional plots that I have ever seen. John Nash takes us into his world and wrenches our heart out with a performance that portrays the character’s vulnerability and extreme eccentricity. Your heart goes out to him within the first 20 minutes. And by the end of the film, I couldn’t stop the tears from rolling down. John Nash is no ordinary child and we see that within the first 15 minutes.
Nash is a mathematical genius, shy and oddly charming. And Russel Crowe plays the part to perfection. Nash has issues socialising with people and the only thing that crossed my mind at the start of the film was his anxiety and awkwardness. But it all becomes increasingly intense from the moment he enters into his new mysterious assignment. What I find beyond miraculous is the way Alicia handled Nash. Where any ordinary wife would have failed, Alicia sticks to Nash through thick and thin. From coping with his disorder to leading a life so simple and surrendered to the fact that it will never ever be the same requires courage and a heart made of gold. And she survives. It made me think if she did this solely because of the baby or it was just meant to be this way. Love can make you do things you never imagined you were capable of, after all! Alicia was the sole reason behind his success and I cried buckets when he addresses her in his speech for winning the Nobel Prize in Economics. It’s an emotional roller coaster.
From something as queer as watching the three personalities that his head created walk beside him to see him understand that they exist and yet comprehend the very fact that he is ill and suffering from a mental disorder, is something out of this world! And then to see him joke about his schizophrenia when his school friend pays him a visit almost had me laughing and weeping at the same time. Josh Nash was a phenomenal man.
So after having watched the movie a minimum of 5 times, I finally decided I should be reading the book that made this film. This is one of those cases where I feel the movie will live up to the standards that the book built. I am dying to know how Nash feels like on paper and how Alicia is written. What the movie doesn’t show us is an insight into Nash’s brain and maybe the book takes us into his world. A world full of chaos, a parallel reality that constantly gets a touch of the real world. I hope the book gives us all that. And more. I could write 5 more pages on what I felt about this movie! But I am already tearing up.
Here are a few quotes from the movie which I loved. Go watch the movie if you haven’t and then come back to read this and I assure you, you will have perspective :)
John Nash: There's no point in being nuts if you can't have some fun with it.
Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart.
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