Reflection on "A Beautiful Mind"

In the poignant movie A Beautiful Mind, I was taken through John Nash’s experiences, a mathematical genius whose schizophrenia slowly begins to take over his life. Even after suffering the humiliation of being detained during one of his lectures and sent to a mental hospital to be deemed as crazy, John Nash refuses to take his medication because it interferes with the top secret mission Parcher, one of his hallucinations, forces him to undertake throughout the movie. Just when Alicia, John’s wife, lets herself believe that John is beginning to overcome his schizophrenia, his refusal to take his medication causes him to lapse even deeper into his illness than he had before. In one scene, Alicia lets John alone with their child, trusting him to give their son a bath, and runs outside to collect the laundry before the onset of an incoming storm. When Alicia then stumbles upon the shed John has been working in which has been covered with newspapers he had been “decoding,” she runs back to the house to find her child who almost drowns, and then gets physically abused by John in her desperate attempt to call Dr. Rosen for help. I find this scene particularly moving, because it shows the full extent of how John’s schizophrenia interferes with his ability to live a normal life. I cannot bring myself to fully imagine what John, the once revered mathematical genius must feel after realizing that he cannot even control his own actions. His hallucinations cause him to lose sight of reality, making him incapable of properly fathering his own child and being the responsible husband he desires to be. When John physically hurts Alicia and comes close to causing his son’s death, he realizes that his schizophrenia has caused him to transform into someone else. I found the scene incredibly depressing because it showed how truly out of hand John’s hallucinations had become, and how they took over his life. I find it ironic and devastating how the same brilliant mind that