Review of The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016) by Mary B — 20 Aug 2017

A moving account of Srinivasa Ramanujan, the genius mathematician who rose out of poverty in India to solve problems believed to be unsolvable, and whose profound insights have altered math all the way up to the present day. The cast is very strong, led by Dev Patel in the role of Ramanujan, and including Jeremy Irons as his mentor G. H. Hardy and Devika Bhise as the wife he leaves behind in India to study at Trinity College in Cambridge. Director Matt Brown captures some great shots in both Madras and Cambridge, and effectively transformed the biography of Ramanujan into a screenplay which is nuanced and much more than math.

It is fascinating to see the mentor obviously surpassed by the student (and knowing it), but trying to temper creative genius with the need to grind out proofs, but the movie also includes the dynamics of conservative and liberal politics at the time leading up to WWI, love and sacrifice, and atheism and faith. It also has the ugly racism Ramanujan encountered, as well as shows how hard it was for him to adapt to being in England. There is a human element here, as well as a spiritual element. "There are patterns in everything. The color in light, the reflections in water... in math, these patterns reveal themselves in the most incredible form. It's quite beautiful," he says. Another time, after Hardy has taken a taxi with the number 1729 on it and mentioned that the number is rather dull, Ramanujan comments "No, it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways", which is a true anecdote.

It's hard to fathom those singular few, who out of billions of people who have been born have such extraordinary gifts. It's not hyperbole to put Ramanujan in the same class as Mozart and Newton, and it's heartbreaking that he died at the age 32. How fantastic is it that this movie honors him, and is so well made. Don't believe the negative reactions ("boring", "slow", "routine", etc), but the film is quiet and intelligent - which I found not only understandable but appropriate given the subject matter (hey it's not Iron Man folks). If that's not your thing, though, you should probably look elsewhere.