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The Man Who Knew Infinity Review

What I liked: Probably the best part of this movie was watching it was a bunch of math majors. They were so excited about every bit of math that appeared. It was moderately disconcerting because I think this may be vaguely reminiscent of how I act when I watch science movies. The reason the math majors were so excited was this movie was the story of one of the most intriguing and possibly one of the greatest modern mathematicians: Srinivasa Ramanujan. He was a relatively uneducated man living in India who remarkably independently developed known theorems and discovered new mathematical theorems. I know virtually nothing about this guy but am assured by long and complicated (and enthusiastic) explanations that he was an continues to be hugely influential on theoretical mathematics. I assure you that theoretical mathematics is a useful thing for stuff like data encryption and GPS and outer space and that it is not equivalent to hypothetical and absurd answers to math questions that are too hard to think about at that moment. I liked that I new Ramanujan's adviser Hardy, of Hardy-Weinberg fame. I liked the way they framed the story in WWI, it seemed very true to life on a college campus where world altering events are swirling all around but in a rather surreal way. I liked the discussions among the faculty, which addressed bias in the academic system without seeming too dramatized. I liked when he tried to go visit the elephant, it was sad but it did a better job for me of conveying emotion than most other scenes in the movie. I liked the way they presented his devotion. I liked the friendship between the two old mathematicians, I thought they were funny. I liked that they made a movie about very complex ideas and told the story of someone who was very influential but mostly unknown (possibly just unknown to me since every person I talk to about the movie says "Oh yeah! Ramanujan! I love his work on math math math math" but I am attributing that wide spread response on non-random sampling and weird friends)

What I didn't: While the story was good, it didn't really ever get me. I didn't get swept up in the excitement of the plot or in the strained character relationships. I had trouble following the math. Not the math that they chose to explain, that was done well, but the MATH. Why was Ramanujan so cool? Yes he was super smart and brave but why does he have a legacy that makes people say "Oh yeah! Ramanujan!" What was it about his ideas that still inspires people to pursue them? That is the framing and context that I felt like the film really needed. They tried once to address it: Ramanujan is talking to his wife, who cannot even read, telling her about how much he loves math. Essentially he rhetorically asks "but why should this matter to you?" and responds "maybe it doesn't but it reflects fundamental universal truth." This response tells us a great deal about the character but very very little about math besides erroneously that math is not important for those of us who are not personal friends of infinity.

Who should watch this? Anyone with a mathematician friend, or who knows of a mathematician who needs a friend.

Would I watch it again? Maybe but there would be lots of pausing and googling if I did.

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