Tuesday, August 2, 2016

The Man Who Knew Infinity

Release Date: April 29, 2016

Starring: Jeremy Irons as G.H. Hardy
Dev Patel as S.. Ramanujan

Directed by: Matt Brown

Written by: Matt Brown based off the Biography by Robert Kanigel

S. Ramanujan is a low income young man from India who has an extraordinary gift. He creates these extraordinary mathematical figures without a basic knowledge of what they are or how he got to the conclusion. He keeps looking for someone to help him understand what they are and how they can be used to help the world. However, no one will take him under their wing. He reaches out to a great mathematician in Great Britain by the name of G.H. Hardy. Hardy looks into his work and decides that he is worth working with. Ramanujan is asked to come and study with him and makes the journey to Great Britain. Hardy learns that he may have bit off more than he can chew with his new pupil. Ramanujan knows, and see, that the complicated equations are correct but he has no idea why they are correct. The reason being is because he can not show the basic proofs to show how he got to the bigger idea. When Hardy finally asks him why he can't show the proofs Ramanujan says it's because the equations are given to him by god.

Hardy, a stock atheist, believes that Ramanujan believes that this is how he gets the equations. He believes in him so much so that when Ramanujan's home life starts to fall apart he does everything in his power to give him credit for the genius that he is. In an effort to get him elected as a Fellow of Trinity College he turns to other professors to trust that Ramanujan's equations, although they all can be proven as of yet, are true. His efforts fail on the first go around.

With the nearing outbreak of World War I and the fact that he has now contracted Tuberculosis, Ramanujan believes that his time in England is done and he needs to return to his family. Hardy, in a last effort to prove to Ramanujan that his work is worth it, Hardy gets him elected as Fellow of Royal Society and makes promise to come back in a years time in order to continue their work. However, that year turns into infinity when Ramanujan's illness takes life before he can see more of his work published.



This is one of those movies that makes you see just how important movies are. Only movies can take a person that not many people even know about and make you see how your life if effected by them. The story about S. Ramanujan is one that effects all of us because the equations that he has created are those of what we use now in some of our technology. They are also being used to study black holes and other aspects of space.

Even though we think that we learned about every important person in our history books this shows otherwise. That we are far from knowing about every person that has made a historical difference in the world. Who we need to thank for working through their difficulties and hardships in order to help other people down the line.

This movie was very inspiring. I man who no one wanted to help kept chancing after his dreams to publish his work, to make a difference in the world. The beautiful thing about this movie is that it was compelling without any action, or over zealous drama. It's a simple story told through his faith, friends, and legacy.

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