John Forbes Nash, Jr., who went to Princeton University during the late 1940's on a Carnegie scholarship and copped the Nobel Prize seven years ago, did not have an easy life. Afflicted with schizophrenia which made its presence felt in college but was undiagnosed in part because of his actual involvement in a national security code-breaking operation, Dr. Nash might have originated even more breakthroughs in his field than he otherwise attained had he been of sound mind. Considering that he overcame his incurable affliction and received the most prestigious award an academic could secure in spite of his long-term emotional problem, we could agree that his was indeed a beautiful mind. Interpreted in an Oscar-caliber performance by Russell Crowe, the story is always credible, its melodramatic flourishes never over the top or gratuitous, its romantic interludes unaffected. What's more about one-third of the way into the film, which enjoys a few brief and imaginative photographic tricks, lies a twist involving his Princeton roommate, Charles (Paul Bettany) that could knock your socks off.

Director Howard takes us first to Nash's opening week at Princeton, where in one party scene on the campus he stands awkward and aloof from his fellows but soon joins a group only to offend them with his seeming arrogance and blunt criticism. Even then there are hints, particularly by his duck-like gait, that his difficulty lies deeper than his diffident demeanor. He is the first to admit that he doesn't like people and that people do not much like him: he is more comfortable with numbers, and therefore his landing a job with a top defense lab suits him just fine. Trouble ensues when he is recruited by an undercover operative, Parcher (Ed Harris). When he meets the woman who is to become his wife, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), his reluctance to reveal top secret information to her is coupled with behavior peculiar even for a guy who must be particularly cautious with those closest to him. While lecturing a class one day, he abruptly bounds from the room in mid-sentence and is taken to a psychiatric hospital for treatment by Dr. Rosen (Christopher Plummer)--who may be a Russian agent determined to learn the secret of his code breaking.

Despite the temptation of Ron Howard to train Roger Deakins's camera on the alluring Jennifer Connelly--already familiar with stories about mental illness from her role as a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky's compelling "Requiem for a Dream"--Russell Crowe is rarely off screen, and how lucky we are. Flamboyant as a rebellious soldier in Ridley Scott's "Gladiator," he is by contrast recoiled here as when tempted by his lovely and increasingly frustrated wife. And who's to say that playing a courageous man of action is any more difficult than enacting the role of a man beset by inner torment?

Given the perfect balance of academia, romance and melodrama, this movie is not only one of the entertainment gems of the year but should be used to motivate the teaching of mathematics. "What use is algebra?" fills the halls of many a secondary school throughout the land. In the role of Dr. Nash, Russell Crowe shows that mathematics theory can be used to push the envelope in economics and even in biology. While math as an abstract subject can be a valuable discipline for training the mind, its concrete applications to our day-to-day life are manifold, if generally unnoticed by most of us who are affected by it every day. "A Beautiful Mind" is a beautiful picture indeed.