THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY: a review
First a couple of official reviews, and then mine:
Google Reviews:
Dev Patel is maths genius Srinivasa Ramunujan and Jeremy Irons his Cambridge mentor in this well-intentioned movie.
Peter Bradshaw
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This is the very definition of the kind of movie people complain that “they” don’t make anymore, a modestly budgeted, character-driven drama for adults that doesn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence.
Katie Rife
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Recently, I went to see a movie called The Man Who Knew Infinity at the Garden Theater in Princeton because an esteemed and respected Princeton University mathematics professor, Manjul Bhargava, held a Q&A (question & answer) session on making the movie following the showing, and I knew the topic would be very interesting. The movie followed the life of Srinivasa Ramanujan, and is currently being shown in selected theaters.
It certainly deserves wide approval and is about a formerly mysterious mathematician from India who gained approval in England for his work, but had died an untimely death from an ailment. The movie has masterfully brought to life the work of Ramanjuan, played by Dev Patel; G.H. Hardy played by Jeremy Irons with great skill; and the mathematical world of the troubled period in World War II.
Somehow Bhargava and and Kenneth Ohno, mathematicians who were consulting directors of the movie, have unexpectedly produced an engaging movie that I really enjoyed. Before I went, I just wanted to know more about this mathematician and knew that Ramanujan had stirred up the establishment of Cambridge University back in World War II, and the movie really delivers.
Sprinkled throughout, a little distracting romance is beneficially provided in the form of Ramanujan's long-suffering and beautiful wife back in India. She has to get along with his family and moves to live with her brother after her in-laws withhold his letters to her during his five year English period. This romance and marriage created a minor, nebulous psychological distinction between Ramanjuan and the unmarried G.H. Hardy.
The movie is supposedly set mostly in Madras, India and Cambridge, England although credits show it was filmed partly in my beloved Oxford. Anyway, it's well-worth seeing. Go see it!