Synopsis:
A Beautiful Mind is about a man named John Nash and his life struggle with schizophrenia. In the beginning of the movie, John was a grad student at Princeton. While there, he kept mostly to himself and his roommate Charles, but at the same time was trying to come up with a unique and new mathematical theorem. Later in the movie, John became a professor at MIT and married a girl named Alicia (a grad student at MIT at the time). Later in the course of John’s life/the movie, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and became institutionalized, learning that his former roommate, his former roommate’s adopted daughter, and his job as a department of defense informant were all hallucinations. Eventually and gradually John started researching/teaching again and earned himself a Nobel prize.
Reflection:
I thoroughly enjoyed A Beautiful Mind, with its thought-provoking storyline and its many parallels to real life. John’s hallucinations are so real that it was utterly shocked to learn they are all just projections of his schizophrenia. He truly does have a beautiful mind, even though it at times poses an imminent danger to himself and those around him. For example, his hallucination, Parcher, orders John to “finish” his wife because she tries to notify Dr. Rosen of his sudden stopping of his medication. I grieved for his wife, Alicia, for she dedicates her life to the recovery of her husband. I sobbed uncontrollably when she gets so angry she punches the bathroom mirror. I cannot imagine how it must feel for your husband to be unresponsive to your desperate solicitations of love.
The medication that John takes makes him lose his euphoric state of mind and his “code-breaking” skills. His fascination with numbers is inspiring but you quickly learn it is due to his illness. Not only did I cry when Alicia’s love is denied, but I cried when she watches her husband endure electroshock therapy, knowing he must have five treatments a week for two weeks. If I had to watch a loved one undergo such excruciating treatment, I would be scarred for life, never looking at my beloved the same way again. The most shocking part of the movie, for me, is when he leaves his baby in the bathtub claiming that someone is there taking care of him. The fear Alicia must have felt at that moment is almost unbearable to even imagine. Despite the trauma portrayed in the movie, the ending makes up for it with his receiving of pens from his colleagues and finally learning how to ignore his delusions. The fact that they still haunt him in his last years is daunting, but it is awesome how he can control them. When he receives the Nobel Prize for his work in economics truly made me smile, and I had one of those “proud parent moments.” Overall, the movie was impeccably executed and I absolutely love this movie.
A Beautiful Mind is about a man named John Nash and his life struggle with schizophrenia. In the beginning of the movie, John was a grad student at Princeton. While there, he kept mostly to himself and his roommate Charles, but at the same time was trying to come up with a unique and new mathematical theorem. Later in the movie, John became a professor at MIT and married a girl named Alicia (a grad student at MIT at the time). Later in the course of John’s life/the movie, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and became institutionalized, learning that his former roommate, his former roommate’s adopted daughter, and his job as a department of defense informant were all hallucinations. Eventually and gradually John started researching/teaching again and earned himself a Nobel prize.
Reflection:
I thoroughly enjoyed A Beautiful Mind, with its thought-provoking storyline and its many parallels to real life. John’s hallucinations are so real that it was utterly shocked to learn they are all just projections of his schizophrenia. He truly does have a beautiful mind, even though it at times poses an imminent danger to himself and those around him. For example, his hallucination, Parcher, orders John to “finish” his wife because she tries to notify Dr. Rosen of his sudden stopping of his medication. I grieved for his wife, Alicia, for she dedicates her life to the recovery of her husband. I sobbed uncontrollably when she gets so angry she punches the bathroom mirror. I cannot imagine how it must feel for your husband to be unresponsive to your desperate solicitations of love.
The medication that John takes makes him lose his euphoric state of mind and his “code-breaking” skills. His fascination with numbers is inspiring but you quickly learn it is due to his illness. Not only did I cry when Alicia’s love is denied, but I cried when she watches her husband endure electroshock therapy, knowing he must have five treatments a week for two weeks. If I had to watch a loved one undergo such excruciating treatment, I would be scarred for life, never looking at my beloved the same way again. The most shocking part of the movie, for me, is when he leaves his baby in the bathtub claiming that someone is there taking care of him. The fear Alicia must have felt at that moment is almost unbearable to even imagine. Despite the trauma portrayed in the movie, the ending makes up for it with his receiving of pens from his colleagues and finally learning how to ignore his delusions. The fact that they still haunt him in his last years is daunting, but it is awesome how he can control them. When he receives the Nobel Prize for his work in economics truly made me smile, and I had one of those “proud parent moments.” Overall, the movie was impeccably executed and I absolutely love this movie.
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