"Perhaps it is good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to discover a beautiful heart." - John Nash.
John Nash, a misunderstood man with a brilliant mind that "falls prey" to the clutches of delusions and hallucinations characterised by schizophrenia. This movie is captivating, as the viewer learns of Nash's illness in a devastatingly heart warming way. The viewers are shown the long and hard journey of John Nash suffering with schizophrenia. The opening quote to this essay shows the epitome of what got John Nash through the illness, love. "A Beautiful Mind" is based on a true story on the life of John Nash. John Nash was a very peculiar man with a brilliant mind. He was a genius of his time. We see John Nash as he progresses from being a student to becoming a lecturer working at Princeton University. .
We follow the life of John Nash as the disease progresses. It is interesting as we see when there is change or stress in Nash's life; this is when the symptoms of the disorder are most prominent. These events that cause stress or anxiety in his life are when he is in search of "the original idea" and when he meets a girl that he has thoughts of marrying. This daunting time of life changing decisions is where we see the symptoms worsening. Even towards the end of the movie in Nash's old age, where he returns to his university after many years, we see Nash's anxiety and the delusions and hallucinations cause him to have an extreme episode. His wife reminds him then, and the viewers of the movie are brought into awareness that stressful times trigger the delusions. Alicia, Nash's wife: "You know stress triggers the delusions." "Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder (or a group of disorders) marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions and behaviours" (Medical Dictionary). It is characteristic of hallucinations and delusions that affect the daily living and occupation of those that suffer with the illness.