But the combination of a strong cast and a director, Ron Howard, known for his bouncy optimism proved to be the right formula for a A Beautiful Mind, earning it the best picture Oscar on Sunday.
”In the case of A Beautiful Mind the person and the story are important to me. To receive an award for making this movie is a miracle,” said co-producer Ron Grazer.
The film, nominated for eight Academy Awards, took home four from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, including best director for Howard, best supporting actress for Jennifer Connelly and best
adapted screenplay for Akiva Goldsman.
It was a fairytale ending for the decidedly un-fairytale story of the Nobel prize-winning Nash, whose descent into schizophrenia nearly destroyed what was touted as the most promising mind of his generation.
The film produced by Universal Studios opens in 1948, when Nash, played by New Zealand-born Russell Crowe, enters Princeton University as a graduate student, beginning his quest for that one truly original idea.
Nash eventually closes in on a hypothesis for an economic theory and becomes a star in the math world.
He lands a prestigious position at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, meets his wife, Alicia, played by Jennifer Connelly, and consults for the Pentagon, cracking impossible codes no one else can fathom.
But all is not well in Nash’s ”beautiful mind,” and he sinks into a delusional fog, losing his grip on reality, despite psychiatric intervention.
Willing himself back to health, Nash learns to deal sanely with his delusions and, finally, earns the respect he has so craved from his peers.
The film, directed by Ron Howard, was based in part on Nash’s life and the biography of the same name by Sylvia Nasar.
Deviations from the book, including the revelations of adultery, homosexual encounters and an alleged dislike of Jews, sparked a pre-Oscars row, with Universal rumbling that the film was a target
of a vicious smear campaign.
In the past, such rumblings have yanked Oscars out from under their intended recipients, with 1999’s The Hurricane falling prey to the same sort of historical revisionism.
The film, aside from earning 188 million dollars at the box office worldwide, has also been the recipient of a slew of awards, including Golden Globes for acting and writing, as well as a best picture nod.
It has also been hailed by mental health advocates as a sledgehammer blow to the misconceptions and taboos surrounding mental illness — schizophrenia in particular.
But, as Crowe said when he accepted his Golden Globe for his unerring portrayal of Nash, A Beautiful Mind is just a movie, folks.”
”But hopefully it will help us open our hearts … and that it gives us the belief that in our lives, something extraordinary can always happen.” – Sapa-AFP