Rubelle Micah C.

Sapong

PN301

Summary
We were given the task to watch the movie A Beautiful Mind. The movie
was based on a true to life story; the life story of John Nash, a mathematical
genius. The story started with John Nash entering the prestigious Princeton
University where he received a scholarship for mathematics. His personality was
eccentric and he didnt fit it well with all the other geniuses, but he still had a
couple of friends and a supportive roommate, Charles. He wanted to create a
theory from an original idea and, although it took him quite sometime to achieve
it, eventually he managed to create a theory that was later used as one of the
pillars in modern economics.
After he published his paper, which was focused on a discovering a new
concept on modern dynamics, he was invited to work at MIT. He was asked to
choose two companions to work with him and he chose Bender and Sol.
A few years later, he was asked to crack a series of codes that were
intercepted from the telecommunications of the enemy at the pentagon. He was
able to crack the codes mentally, which amazed his audience. After that he
continued his work at MIT and after sometime a guy by the name of William
Parcher who introduced himself as a member of the United States Department of
Defense. He gave Nash a mission to crack the enemies codes that were hidden
in magazines, newspapers and etc. After he deciphers the code, he is to deliver it
to a secret mailbox.
While he continued his secret missions, his life at MIT went on which
means he had to teach every now and then. During one of his mundane lectures,
he met an interesting student her name was Alicia Larde. She was into him and
she pursued him and they eventually got married. After their wedding, Nash was
to deliver his secret message to the secret mailbox but someone attacked him
and his supervisor, Parcher, saved him. They eventually managed to subdue
their pursuers but that event made Nash paranoid. He was eccentric to begin
with but he eventually became too paranoid and too dysfunctional. His wife,
Olivia, called the hospital and asked them to help his husband. He was invited to
give a lecture at Princeton where he was cornered and was brought to a mental
hospital where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He had a hard
time accepting the fact that he was ill. He believed that the doctors were Russian
spies and so on. Charles and his niece, his secret missions from Parcher, all of

them were just a figment of his imagination. Eventually he accepted reality and
the treatment that came with it.
After a few months, Nash was released from the hospital and he lived with
his wife and their son. He had become more withdrawn from the society because
he was ashamed of what had become of him. One night, he wasnt able to
respond to his wifes sexual advances and he felt bad for her so he decided to
stop taking his medications and his delusions started again. He couldnt focus on
anything else other than his obsessions which endangered his sons life and his
wife decided to call the hospital again because his husband almost killed their
son out of neglect. Nash refused to be taken back into the hospital and his wife
supported his decision. He decided that he will train himself and he will control
his own mind.
He returned to Princeton and asked his old friend Martin Hansen (the
other recipient of the mathematics scholarship during his time at Princeton) and
asked him to let him be part of the faculty because he thought that the familiar
environment would help him with his treatment. It took a few years before he was
able to ignore his delusions and although he found it hard to distinguish reality
from fiction, he wasnt alone. A lot of people supported him, specially his wife. He
was later given the Nobel Prize for his work on the game theory.
Reaction
The film was somewhat similar to the American Series that Im watching
these days. The protagonist also had schizophrenia although the story was about
him and his involvement with the FBI, helping them solve crimes with his superior
intelligence. I think the film was quite amazing; the twist in the plot was quite
unexpected. Everything seemed so real, thats why I thought maybe thats how
people with schizophrenia think. They think what they see and what they feel are
real. They do not have a firm grip on reality, which I find pitiful. The society where
we live in condemn the ones who are different. History has showed us how
humans shun people who are different even condoning to violence. Even today, a
lot of people are still practicing customs that promote isolation of the ones who
do not belong, those who they do not deem as normal. With the advancement of
technology and medicine, it is already possible to control symptoms of
schizophrenia but so far thats all they could do. Diminish the delusions; control
the tantrums, physical restraint. The pattern is similar to what our ancestors have
done in the past but the treatments now are more humane because our doctors
acknowledges the fact that these people are sick and not possessed by some

wandering evil spirit that needs to be exorcised by using drastic methods such as
torture.
The film also showed that there are some variables, that are not initially
part of the equation, which can affect the outcome. What Alicia has done was
quite extraordinary. She supported her deranged husband even after he almost
killed their son. Her role was very important in establishing her husbands
conviction on fighting his illness. She was probably one of the biggest factors that
influenced Nashs positive outcome.