This is a true story about John Nash Jr, who unfortunately was discovered in his adult life as having a terrible illness, paranoid schizophrenia. The story begins in 1947, with John Nash as a student at Princeton. He tries to portray himself as being really smart, but right off you can tell there is something wrong with him, by the look in his eyes. He finally he comes up with a game theory. This theory is thought to be incredible and he is offered a job at M.I.T. He gets married and has a child. This is when his world is turned upside down. The rest of the movie focuses on John's life in dealing with schizophrenia
Throughout this time the events are so very believable, that John is experiencing all these things, you then discover that most of it was in his mind. Thankfully with his wife's help he is able to deal with this illness and come out okay in the end. He even wins the Noble Prize in 1994. The message I received was to try to understand the different kind of illnesses that are out there, and to be more understanding towards people when they are displaying what I would perceive as strange behavior.
The main source of this movie was from a biography written by Sylvia Nasar. This film can be categorized as a melodrama, as it has strong emotional scenes. It has action and the character triumphs in the end. It has a serious subject matter, but does end happily. This story defiantly has the seven characteristics of a Classical hollywood cinema. There is a story to be told and it's about not only about John being a brilliant mathematician but also dealing with his Schizophrenia.
John uses subjective points of views (pov) to illustrate his visual and mathematical abilities to perceive patterns and interactions. In a scene where John arrives at Princeton to begin his studies, one of the patterns through his point-of-view shot was when John connects his vision of bright lemons, a punch bowl, and the pattern of a fellow student's tie. In this sequence and others in the film, John uses flashes of light in his pov shots to point out his recognition of significant patterns in the world around him, such as the magazines and newspapers lighting up when he thinks he has discovered a code. In another scene, John visits a top-secret government center to decipher a code captured from the Soviets. In addition to the flashes of light, this scene uses close-ups, composition, and images to express Nash's exceptional subjective perceptions:
This film focuses mainly on one character, John Nash, but also a few distinct characters, such as his wife, and his three imaginary people, Parcher, Herman and Marcie. William Parcher, head of the Department of Defense. Charles Herman his roommate at the University, later on in the movie, Charles niece, Marcie. All of which end up being figments of his imagination.
There are definitely numerous goals for the main character, John. In 1947, John attends Princeton University; his goal at this time is to come up with a great original mathematical theory. In 1953 his goal, he thinks is to help the United States find a bomb, supposedly being built by the Soviet Union. He also ends up getting married in this year as well.
1954 John is working at M.I.T. and this is when his schizophrenia is full blown. He thinks he is a spy working for the Department of Defense. 1956, his goal is to figure out, how to deal with his schizophrenia. In 1978 he ends up back at Princeton and convinces his old friend, Martin Henson to give him a job. His goal at this time is to get out in the real world and later on to be a teacher/Professor. In 1994 he ends up winning the Noble Prize for his game theory. The goal of his wife Alicia is obvious. She just wants her husband back no matter what. She gives up a lot of herself to help him through this illness. The goals of his imaginary friends change as well. First Charles is his friend and helps him deal with different situations in his life, then he becomes someone who hassles him into believing he is a spy too. I am not sure what goal or role Marcie has, unless she is suppose to be his inner child or just having someone else who will love him. Parcher's goal is to get John to become a spy for the government. At the end of the movie he is angry with John for trying to ignore him and his goal is to get John to kill his wife and Child.
John defiantly has lots of obstacles and problems to confront. His first was when he was asked to play that board game with a schoolmate, Martin Henson. I feel he was asked by Martin to prove to the other men that John wasn't as smart as he made out to be, plus to get back at John because, when he first met Martin he insulted him. He then tried to fit in with some friends by going to the bars with them. John had to come up with a theory quickly or risk not being appointed a position with an important company. He finally does. He then agreed to work with the Department of Defense as a spy. It was very hard on him to try to keep this government information a secret from his coworkers and his girlfriend/wife, Alicia. Having to deal with his hospital stay and all the treatments he had to endure. Last but not least, trying to deal with his illness.
Yes there is a closure in this film, but probably not in his real life off screen. John goes through a lot during his time dealing with his schizophrenia. He had a lot of help from his wife, Alicia who would not give up on him. Because of her insistence he goes back to the University and meets his old friend Martin and asks him for a job, so that he can, not only get back in the public, but to start dealing with his illness. He has a lot of drawbacks during this time, because he still sees his imaginary people, but perseveres and ends up being able to ignore these people and get a teaching job.
In 1994, he is told that he is up for the Noble Prize and he meets one of the men from the Noble Prize review board. This man says he has come to interview him. While John Nash and the interviewer are chatting, one of the professors comes up and lays a pen down in front of him. Soon all the professors in the room were putting pens on the table in front of him. Helinger told John when this happens it means a professor knows he has earned the prestige of his colleagues, that he has been accepted. He does end up winning the Noble Prize; John just wanted to be recognized for something important dealing with mathematics and this does become a reality.
Some of the clear cause and effects of actions start off when he first gets to Princeton. He is in his room by himself and he was looking out his window. He witnessed a lot of schoolmates with groups of people. John was a loner and had said he did not like people and they did not like him. He suddenly turns around and Charles is there, claiming to be his roommate. It seems whenever he had too much going his friend Charles suddenly appears. It meant to me that he was lonely and afraid and needed someone to talk too. He use to keep his door open but suddenly he started locking it, which made things seem mysterious. One other scene made clear is when he finally receives the pens from his fellow professors, which we know meant he was finally accepted. The last cause and effect of his actions was his wife helping him through his illness.
Some techniques used were: point-of-view shots and perspectives from John. The different type of music for certain scenes. The dull yellow lighting for impressive effects, high and low angle shots, panning shots. The scene where Marcie runs around the pigeons, they don't fly away. I think this is when the director starts dropping small hints that John is having hallucinations.
Some of the composition features of Parcher and Charles were; John sees Parcher for the first time, John is in a well-lit room, he looks up and the scene shows just Parcher. Parcher is framed alone in a dark space, but below you see the ceiling light, he is often in the dark. The next time you see him he suddenly appears, on the doorstep. The area behind John is very dark but Parcher is shaded in the light. When you first see Charles he is always in well-lit areas. Charles also appears in the center of each scene we see him in, maybe indicating he is the center of John's attention.
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