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We first meet John Nash (Russell Crowe) on the Princeton Campus where's he's just enrolled in the graduate school. He's an eccentric genius from West Virginia and the recipient of the Carnegie Scholarship. He has no social skills, and his arrogance is only surpassed by his unswerving faith that he will discover an original idea that will revolutionize. His fellow math majors are bemused and tolerant, but will gladly take every opportunity to take him down a notch or two, particularly Hansen (Josh Lucas). Only his roommate, Charles (Paul Bettany), is supportive with unconditional friendship.

Nash's faith in his own creativity is justified; he devises a gamesmanship concept applicable to economics and several other endeavors that provides both recognition and opportunity. He becomes a professor of mathematics at MIT and a researcher for the Government (much such work is done in academia funded by Government grants and contracts). Nash takes two of his most capable classmates with him to MIT, people who came to accept and respect him, Sol (Adam Goldberg) and Bender (Anthony Rapp). Nash's fame as a mathematician comes to the attention of the Pentagon. He's drawn into code breaking and Nash is soon embroiled in highly classified black-hat research. His handler is the intense and edgy Parcher (Ed Harris). Nash's personal life improves as well. An unusually attractive and bright student, Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), is attracted to him. His social ineptitude has long ago discouraged him from any pursuit, but she becomes the aggressor. They start to date and, to everyone's surprise - not the least of which, his - they marry.

What is not yet clear to the viewer is that Nash is experiencing delusions that are so rational, so linear, that he cannot hope to understand what is real and what is not. Howard and Goldsman patiently reveal clues to expose what will become Nash's debilitating schizophrenia and paranoia. As he descends into his mental illness, we experience the impact on Alicia and their relationship. Undeterred, she shows remarkable strength, dedication, and an unfaltering love that must be credited with his ultimate recovery.

Howard has chosen to portray schizophrenia predominantly from the inside. He deceives the audience with Nash's seemingly rational point-of-view. I suspect that portraying believable delusions is more a means to convey the acceptance of the perceptions by the schizophrenic, however bizarre they may be, than an intentional implication that such delusions would be found rational by the mentally healthy. How else could the filmmakers possibly express Nash's dilemma in the context of cinematic drama? The awards and accolades this film garnered are well deserved. The performances are outstanding, particularly Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe. If Crowe hadn't won an Oscar the previous year - and with all due respect to the very talented Denzel Washington - I think the results for Best Actor might have turned out a bit differently earlier this year. I believe this is the finer, more nuanced effort.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

The film's theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85 is presented in anamorphic video and this is a very good transfer. Halos are present but rarely intrusive. They are of low amplitude and high frequency, and obvious only when edge contrast ratios are quite high. We're left with great small object detail, outstanding skin and fabric textures, and a pleasing level of sharpness. Skin tones are very natural looking, indicating color accuracy. Chroma noise and smearing are not visible. There are deep rich blacks and a fine luminance dynamic range; shadow detail is quite good during the many night scenes. I noticed no blocking or mosquito noise. Ritek Digital Studios performed the compression and I continue to gain respect for its work.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is cast surprisingly forward to the front soundstage. Little energy is sent to the surrounds, even during the Nobel Prize ceremony when applause is around and behind the viewer. Sound effects are secondary here, but are nicely conveyed; gunshots have a reasonable punch, but are not as visceral as found on other discs. James Horner's effective orchestral score is very well conveyed with a fine sense of presence; it's dramatic without being bombastic, and stands nicely on its own. Dialog defines the relationships and the characters' arcs and it remains clear and undistorted throughout the film.

A Dolby Digital 5.1 French dub is also included, along with optional English captions and French and Spanish subtitles.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

This is a feature rich release with so many extras that they could not fit on one disc; in fact, they could not fit on two! The supplements found on the feature disc include Deleted Scenes, two Commentaries, Production Notes, Cast and Filmmakers, and links to Universal's Total Axess web site for A Beautiful Mind, which offers even more exclusive content.

Select Deleted Scenes and a menu screen offers the choice of 18 scenes with or without director's commentary. A notable aspect of this screen that I haven't experienced before is that an unseen Ron Howard is heard in an audio introduction, which plays only once rather than the more familiar looping mode. The deleted scenes play sequentially in non-anamorphic widescreen video, lasting an aggregate of 26:43 and are organized as individual chapters. As Howard explains, each is satisfying and well acted, but had to be cut for pace and overall length. Only the last example demonstrates an entirely different approach that was deemed unnecessarily over the top. I found the film's structure to be beyond criticism, so I cannot fault the omission of these sequences.

The first of the two feature- length, screen-specific commentaries is by director Ron Howard. This year's Best Director winner shares with us his interactions with the players, the writer, and with Nash. Anecdotes are supplemented by relating historical truths to the translation to the screen. The director explains many of his artistic decisions and how they were achieved. One of Howard's directorial hallmarks is nepotism - I was wondering where his brother Clint might be; the director points him out, as well as his own wife and daughter. Howard is open and comfortable, and was pleased that he had the opportunity to record his commentary only eight weeks after the premiere, while memories were fresh. Nicely done. The second of the two feature-length, screen- specific commentaries is by screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who adapted the book by Sylvia Nasar. His comments are very specific to the interrelationships. Goldsman offers a few interesting stories about the shoot, but predominantly narrates and amplifies what you see onscreen. Not as compelling, but frequently interesting.

Most of the supplements are found on a second, companion DVD. There are no less than a dozen featurettes to choose from. A Beautiful Partnership: Ron Howard & Brian Grazer (5:22) is just what the title suggests, mutual admiration and a description of a synergistic relationship between two men who've partnered to create Imagine Entertainment and an impressive list of critically praised, popular, and successful films. In Development of the Screenplay (8:16), Akiva Goldsman describes the collaborative and evolutionary process of preparing the script. Atypically, director Ron Howard, Russell Crowe, and he would refine and shape the scenes during filming, honing the feel of the scenes until everyone was satisfied. Meeting John Nash (8:26) is a conversation between Ron Howard and Dr. Nash. The director was curious to see if he could understand the work that earned Nash the Nobel Prize. I had an involuntary flashback; I was once again sitting in the classroom, listening to some math lecturer droning on about vector and tensor analysis or complex variables, speaking in an analytical language related to my half-dozen prerequisite courses in calculus but still not quite understandable. The value of the featurette is not an insight into that work that provided Dr. Nash his fame; the value is to enjoy his regained functionality and a dramatic demonstration of his recovery.

Accepting the Nobel Prize in Economics (1:55) is a very brief clip of Dr. Nash accepting the prize. I'm left to wonder if Nash's acceptance speech at the end of the motion picture was filmmakers' artistic license or if, in reality, each Nobel recipient was given an opportunity to say a few words. It would have been interesting to compare his real speech with the heartwarming scene in the film. Director Ron Howard describes Casting Russell Crowe & Jennifer Connelly (5:55) in this short. There is little to be learned here; as you might expect, casting is described as a painful process that ultimately leads to an artistic value judgment that everyone hopes will prove to be the right decision. I think we can all agree that Howard's instincts didn't fail him. The Process of Age Progression (7:12) demonstrates how makeup artists were able transform young and vibrant actors into the more mature figures we see as the film progresses. Make-up designer Greg Cannom explains that for Russell Crowe alone there were nine different make-up configurations, and he shows us some of the special silicon appliances that he used to accomplish the aging process.

I very much enjoyed Creation of the Special Effects (10:44) in which we're introduced to Kevin Mack of Digital Domain. There are many obvious digital effects that run through the film; Nash's perception of patterns and his creative epiphanies are two examples. But there are numerous effects that are so transparent, so subtle, that I was completely unaware of them. We're given several examples and are shown how the various layers were built up to achieve the desired result. Well done. Scoring the Film (5:53), introduced by Ron Howard, is a quite, laid back discussion by James Horner of the scoring process. He describes his approach to the film and his selection of Charlotte Church to perform the vocals. Viewers familiar with Horner's work - I think I own all his scores available on CD - will recognize themes that were introduced elsewhere; he does have a tendency to borrow from himself. Regardless, his score complements the onscreen drama and is eminently listenable on its own.

Inside A Beautiful Mind (22:28) is the longest of the featurettes and could have been the most comprehensive. It is, however, an extended trailer, delving into the plot in considerable detail. We are given brief glimpses of John Nash and his wife, Alicia. I did learn that Howard and Grazer's efforts are appreciated by the mental health community; as the featurette comes to an end, we see Ron Howard accepting an award from Tipper Gore for raising mental health awareness. Academy Awards takes us back to Hollywood as Ron Howard and Brian Grazer accept the Oscar for best picture on national television. Three other sequences take us backstage to the press area where recipients offer a few additional comments. The other three winners were Ron Howard (best director), Jennifer Connelly (best supporting actress), and Akiva Goldsman (best adapted screenplay). Storyboard Comparisons is introduced by Ron Howard, who explains the importance of the tool to him. We then segue into a choice of three scenes from the film and two deleted scenes for which the completed scene runs in a letterboxed window at the top of the screen while the storyboard is displayed at he bottom. You may select either for a closer view.

The theatrical trailer is shown in 1.85:1 non-anamorphic widescreen video. A Beautiful Mind Soundtrack is a 30-second commercial for the score CD. Now Showing contains Universal's most recent preview montage, which ejects you onto a preview page. DVD/Video non- anamorphic trailers are available for Apollo 13, The Family Man, K-PAX, and Patch Adams. As an additional incentive, Universal has included Sneak Peaks. These are short vignettes (typically 30-second excerpts) from featurettes that highlight the performers or filmmakers as they discuss the film or, in the case of The Family Man, one of the outtakes from the DVD. The last supplement on the companion DVD is called Organizations. It brings up a screen that lists three mental health organizations and their respective web links; each can offer more information on schizophrenia.

Last but not least we have 12 pages of Production Notes, which are a bit duplicative of material found within other supplements, but answered my question concerning why I didn't recognize the campus depicted as MIT. Seven of the cast members and three of the filmmakers are featured in Cast and Filmmakers. Here we have the usual brief professional biographical notes and selected filmographies. Selecting DVD-ROM Features starts a short video sequence that highlights Universal’s extensive Axess web site that extends the supplements beyond what can be included on the DVDs.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

When you pop either disc in the drive and load the InterActual player, and if you're online at the time, you will have the opportunity to click on the "Axess link" on the custom Universal Studios skin and connect to the Beautiful Mind site. As I write this review, there are currently two available video clips - World Premiere footage and a piece on Working With Russell Crowe - and a number of stills.

Universal will also be adding additional content each week after the disc debuts. Fourteen video clips are listed in Coming Attractions. While I prefer the speed and immediacy of having all content on the DVD-Video portion, I compliment Universal for expanding the supplementary materials in a manner that continues to educate and entertain without our incurring additional expense.

Parting Thoughts