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A Beautiful Mind PG-13 Drama / Romance / Thriller Released: Director: Ron Howard Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Judd Hirsch, Christopher Plummer

When "A Beautiful Mind" hits the Oscars later this year, it will do so with the momentum of last year's Golden Globe ceremonies, where it garnered Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Screenplay awards. Based on the true story of John Forbes Nash, Jr., the 1994 Nobel Prize winner for economics, this film describes Nash's journey from Ivy League student to world-acclaimed academic and his battle with schizophrenia along the way.

Lead actor Russell Crowe's performance in this film is fantastic. In a very convincing manner, he portrays the many ups and downs of Nash's psychological state over a period of more than 40 years. The scenes he plays opposite Ed Harris are especially worth seeing. In fact, the strength of Crowe's performance makes this film almost a one-man show. Though there were many excellent competitors for last year's Golden Globe Best Actor award, they all had the misfortune to be vying with Crowe.

This film also gets high marks on an artistic level. In order to emphasize the transformation in Nash's mental state, Director Ron Howard makes use of many special effects to portray Nash's spiritual world in a more concrete manner. He constructs different atmospheres--from warmth to sorrow to paranoid terror--according to the various stages in the main character's life. It is this ability to control surroundings without seeming obvious that is one of Ron Howard's greatest strengths.

The audience is left to ponder the deeper meaning of the film. Is it just the main character who has a beautiful mind, or is it all of the characters in the film? Does Nash's beautiful mind enable him to overcome his mental illness and accomplish so much, or is it a product of his success? The director doesn't give any clear answers, apparently prefering to leave these question to the audience's imagination.

In both filming and adaptation, Ron Howard has endeavored to remain true to the original events, while creating a very moving film which portrays the strength and weakness of the mind.

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