THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY
Finally got the chance to watch the assigned movie in such big group. This time we are watching The Man Who Knew Infinity, it’s a drama genre which we expect it to be boring and dull. However, it was surprisingly relaxing and despite the few times I almost fell asleep, the movie was rather a great and interesting one. Didn’t expect the story to be so inspiring and emotional at the same time though.
To compare the story of The Man Who Knew Infinity to the one of the eight basic stories, I would say that it has a little bit of both Archilles and Cinderella. If it is to compare with Archilles, Srinivasa Ramanujan is portrayed as a hero to his wife, Janaki and mother, even to the people Madras. This is because they put hope and faith on Ramanujan as he travels to England to further develop his computations. He didn’t let down his people back in India as he successfully derived the partition function. However in my point of view, Cinderella has a stronger point of proving the concept of this particular movie.
CINDERELLA
"The dream come true; unrecognised virtue recognised at last; goodness triumphant after being initially despised; rewards achieved through transformed circumstances."
Similar to Cinderella’s story, The Man Who Knew Infinity has its very own “Cinderella” too, only it is based on true life event. The main character, Srinivasa Ramanujan is a man of boundless intelligence that even the abject poverty of his home in Madras, India cannot crush. He sent lots of CVs in order to get a job of his interest, which is Mathematics. Racism is one of the biggest reasons that he couldn’t find any job and also, he didn’t have a degree. After a few rejections, he finally got a job as a clerk. Well, this is his first achievement after putting so much effort in finding a job. But his dreams are young, wild, and free. He sent letters to G.H. Hardy, which is a noted British mathematics professor and eventually, his stellar intelligence in mathematics and his boundless confidence attracted the attention of fellow professors. This part shows that the spirit of never gives up and finally getting to do what he wanted to do, and it’s like a dream come true. But in the mean time he’s sacrificing by leaving his wife and mother. As compared to Cinderella’s story, her dream came true by using the help of fairy godmother whilst for The Man Who knew Infinity, Ramanujan put in a lot of effort and make his dream come true without anybody’s help.
Ramaujan had to leave his wife to pursue his dream
Earning his admittance to Cambridge University is his second achievement and the start of his adventurous journey. However, when Ramanujan is in Cambridge, he’s despised and looked down by some of the professors there just because he’s an Indian. Stereotype are quite serious back then. He even got beat up by a few guys. Luckily as his mentor, G.H. Hardy is quite an open minded person and treat him equally and is willing to work together with him. The same situation happened in Cinderella’s story, only it is not racism bully, it’s a slavery kinda bully and mockery. Both Cinderella and Ramanujan got through the bully and despises, and finally achieving something great. That’s the spirit that we should all hold on to.
Ramanujan's first job as a clerk
Ramanujan's mentor G.H. Hardy
It is towards the ending where Ramanujan finally cracked the partition function derivation. But before that, he got diagnosed Tuberculosis during the World War I. He covered up the fact that he is sick and continue working on his formula with G.H. Hardy. They finally got to crack it and invented the circle method. With Ramanujan’s huge break through, the professors and fellows agreed to let him be part of the British Mathematicians society and finally putting down their stereotypic glasses. It’s definitely a reward achieved through transformed circumstances. What we can learn from this part is that, don’t care too much about the negative sight and hurtful opinion. We should just do our very best without taking anyone else’s stereotypic sight seriously. It’s those who look down and talk bad about you that stays at your behind you. Unfortunately, after Ramanujan’s great success, he passed away in India one year later. Unlike Cinderella’s story, there’s no happy ever after in this case. He remained a hero after he died, leaving his great mathematics formula. This is the reward acheived through transformed circumstances.
In a nutshell, this is probably one of the best drama genre movies that I’ve watched which combined the concept of Cinderella and Archilles so perfectly. Ramanujan finally had his dream came true before he passed away and his unrecognised virtue is recognised at last. Quite a few of us got emotional at the ending of the movie and teared a little. Nonetheless, I think that the movie should show more of the story behind Ramanujan’s success in becoming a great mathematician, for instance telling us more about his background and life in India before he went to England. I think that will bring the audience closer and understand more about the character.
:D
"I've seen larger numbers..."
-Srinivasa Ramanujan