In Flora’s Friday Films, we watched a movie about the life of John Nash, a brilliant mathematician, and his struggles with schizophrenia thought his life. We first meet John in graduate school at Princeton, as a bright, but socially awkward student, who held a certain disdain some aspects of college life, including attending class. He struggles to find an appropriate subject to research during his time there, but with the encouragement of his roommate, he eventually publishes an article that would later revolutionize economic theory. He becomes a professor, and is approached by the Department of Defense to decode enemy transmissions. He spends a majority of his time doing this and dropping off the decoded messages at a pre-approved drop site. He also gets married, after getting reunited with his old college roommate and meeting his niece. The film takes a surprising turn when viewers learn that all of his work for the Department of Defense was imagined, and his roommate and her niece are all side effects of his schizophrenia. With the help of his wife, he eventually learns to recognize people around him who are imagined, and ignores them, rather than take medication, which dulls his mind. Eventually, he eases himself back into the world of academia, and becomes a Nobel Laureate in the field of Economics. I really enjoyed this movie. It gave me a new perspective on schizophrenia- I was just as shocked as John Nash’s character when he learned that such major aspects of his life were imagined. I was also very impressed with  his determination to overcome his difficulties, and his ability to prevent setbacks from discouraging him. In all, I gained a new perspective on mental illness, and the power of proper motivation.