Directed by Ron Howard in the year 2001, A Beautiful Mind is a chef-d’oeuvre film based on the life of Nobel Laureate in Economics, John Nash.
The film brings out the struggles that Nash encounters with his mental health. In the year 1948, Nash enrolls at Princeton University as a graduate student and immediately stands out from the others. Mostly, he keeps to himself, but in some occasions, he goes out with his classmates for drinks (Howard, 2001). Nash makes it his priority to find an original mathematical theorem.
His best friend while at Princeton is Charles Herman who doubles as his roommate. Later on, he works his way up the ladder to become a professor before taking Alicia as his wife in the same institution. With time, Nash becomes schizophrenic and thus as expected becomes disillusioned if not irrational. He retreats from the world, but in the 1970s, he gets back into the academics world and slowly returns to teaching and research. As fate would have it, John incredibly wins the 1994 coveted Nobel Prize in Economics (Howard, 2001).
The role of Nash as played by Russell Crowe, the protagonist in A Beautiful Mind film is to bring out the leading actor’s role in the film. He is the central character in the film and he ends up in conflict due to the struggles that he faces after being diagnosed with a mental disorder.
Nash’s role is to evoke intrigue and excitement coupled with many other emotions to the audience. Right from when he enters Princeton, his social life and determination to come up with a mathematical theorem, his falling in love and marrying Alicia, and finally his being a victim of a mental disorder, the audience is filled with different emotions.
At the beginning of the film, Nash stands out as a character full of ethics in that he lives a moral and virtuous life while in school, but later on after he marries Alicia, he puts his infant son in danger and knocks down Alicia together with the baby.
However, proponents of his ethical behavior would attribute this incidence to his mental disorder, schizophrenia (Howard, 2001). Overall, it is clear that his character is ethical and his shortcomings hinge on the fact that he suffered sudden illness, which he overcomes later.
In real life, the reality of the occurrences surrounding Nash is evident in the contemporary society. A person might be good at what he or she does and s/he might be living to his or her potential, but all over a sudden, s/he suffers from a disorder that pulls him or her behind and forces him/her to become inadequate since s/he has to rely on medication.
In addition, such people become dependants. Such people might even die and a good example is Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. who bowed to cancer. However, with good support from family and friends, one can pull through and go back to living a normal life again, like the case of Nash in the movie.
Against all odds, Alicia sticks with her sick husband even when the circumstances dictate otherwise. Later on, John luckily wins the confidence of the Princeton University where he secures the chance to work in the mathematics sector under the support of his former ally cum competitor, Dr. Hansen.
Reference
Howard, R. (Executive Director). (2001). A Beautiful Mind. [DVD]. USA: Universal Pictures.