A Beautiful Mind, A Courageous Wife
The sudden death of John Nash, the genius Mathematician, took the world by surprise. The brilliant Nobel prize winner died tragically in a car accident this week with his beautiful and courageous wife, Alicia. Nash had been challenged with Schizophrenia for most of his adult life.
The film, A Beautiful Mind, got me weeping several times. I may very occasionally shed a tear or two in a film. But watching this film, especially with more revelation that I now have of mental illness, and also after hearing the death of Nash, provoked emotions that I am not ashamed to admit!
I literally wailed in some scenes. My heart went all out of its rib cage to Nash.
Schizophrenia is cruel. Very cruel and horrible disease. Russell Crowe plays Nash so brilliantly. Small wonder he won an Oscar. Enter the world of John Nash, a complicated world of complex Mathematics, severe paranoia, hallucinations and…a loving wife.
Nash could easily have been the envy of his peers at the prime of his life. But who wants to be called a genius and also be labelled schizophrenic?
I could feel the anguish of his wife, Alicia, wholeheartedly. They are expecting a baby. A baby is usually a big time of change in ‘normal situation’. With the discovery of Nash’s illness, the mix gets dangerously complicated. Nash’s wife says in a scene, perhaps the reason she is still with Nash is because of obligation. And guilt. She says she forces herself to see the man she married and in doing so he becomes that man.
I understood precisely what she meant. “When mental illness strikes a marriage, it seems there are one of three options at times. Fright, fight or flight” – Zoe A Onah.
The scene where Nash almost drowns their baby is certainly one of the most touching scenes in the movie. We can at this point feel the depth of the disease, and also that of Alicia protecting her baby while loving a visibly and very sick husband at the same time. Her frustrations are very evident. And during this time, due to the medications that Nash is taking their bedroom relationship also takes a hit.
The shock treatment that Nash has to endure looks almost inhuman. Yes, I was crying. Crying for all the millions around the world that cruelly endure a disease that, the according to psychiatrist in the movie, is degenerative!
There is so much to say about the life of John Nash as portrayed in this movie. There is no telling that life for his wife was no ride in the park. Although not mentioned in the film, after about 5 years, they divorced. Without pointing figures, this may have been due to the weight of the hell she was going through, no fault of Nash who desperately loved his wife.
Thankfully, they remarry many years later, showing the courage of the heart. The courage of a love that never fails. The life of a caregiver to one challenged with mental illness and especially schizophrenia is not easy.
I admired the determination of Nash’s wife. Even when they were divorced they were still very close and this I am sure contributed to Nash’s ‘recovery’ of the disease in how well he coped with it. Nash improved greatly never taking medication from 1970 or requiring hospitalization! Effectively for the last 45 years of his life Nash stayed medication free according to some reports. This was obviously a tall and courageous decision.
I think I have more thoughts on this story than I can communicate all today. I think I have rambled on a bit in this blog post. However, I want to communicate my unedited feelings about a remarkable man who ‘suffered from Schizophrenia’… and that of his very courageous wife, who gives hope for every caregiver in the world today.
No wonder death could not separate them.
May their souls rest in peace!
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