The Man Who Knew Infinity

Parental Rating: PG-13

Contains: Adult Content    

Jill's Review

Opens May 13, 2016

Runs 108 minutes

Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel) grew up poor and uneducated in Madras, India. However, he had an innate understanding of mathematical theories. He sends a letter to G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) at Cambridge University and to his amazement, he soon finds himself in England during WWI, attending classes and working to prove his mathematical theories under the mentorship of Hardy. Everything was not easy for him though, as many of the professors looked down on him for his lack of formal training. And, he was forced to leave his wife behind in India while he was at University. Through it all, he maintained his faith in God and mathematics and went on to become a pioneer of various theories, some of which are still being studied today.

This is based on a true story and I really liked this movie. It is definitely more of an arthouse film, although the cast, including Dev, Jeremy Irons, Toby Jones, Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam, is top notch. The subject matter is pretty esoteric but they do a nice job of making it accessible for those of us who don't understand partition theory and other things like that. I thought it was very interesting and extremely sad that he had to leave his wife behind for so long. He was able to accomplish quite a lot for someone with little formal education. And, all in a very short time. An interesting and touching film about a very intelligent man who just wanted to make sure that he could share his theories before it was too late. If you like great art films, then this is for you. Go see it!!

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