The Man Who Knew Infinity
directed by matthew brown
Cast design
As numbers matter a lot in The Man Who Knew Infinity, it’s worth noting this elegant film about Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan took 10 years to make it to the screen. But then 10 is a manageable number compared with those the uneducated, Madras-born Ramanujan loved, fought and conquered. He is the main character in this movie and he is willing to sacrifice his whole life in achieving his goals. He is forced to leave behind his young wife with his mother, this would be the start of many of his problems but not before going on to make profound discoveries in his field of study. He never give up in the study of mathematics formula. I admire how he pursue his goals to the very limit. He is the protagonist who keep the story moving forward, hence his goals and external motivation drive me to keep going in life. To me, his contribution to the field stands the test of time, almost 100 years since his premature death in 1920, aged just 32. Mathematics is a mystery to many people, including me, yet filmmakers know its strangeness can enliven a character and carry a story.
For my understanding, India is under British rule, World War I is around the corner and people high and low do not treat this man like a human being, let alone a genius. How dare he argue with British thinking? The racism is edgy and believable. I can feel how difficult he is to go through all these challenges to provide "proofs”. By 1914, Ramanujan was in Cambridge; by 1918, he had been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He finally succeed. To me the protagonist is well casted as he has portraits many good values especially the attitude of never give up. However, I feel that Ramanujan must learn to supplement his inspired explorations with technical discipline, so that his discoveries can be verified to be true and his efforts not wasted.
Besides, G.H Hardy is the mirror character who is most aligned to the protagonist. This is because Ramanujan was mentored by the Cambridge professor G. H. Hardy, eventually became the first Indian to hold a fellowship at Trinity College. In Cambridge, Hardy and Ramanujan collaborate, with the first world war as backdrop. To me, there is considerable tension between their approaches: the untutored genius Ramanujan, with his intuition and inspiration; the dry, crusty Hardy, traditionally educated and steeped in the formality and rigour of the professional mathematician and yet it also establishes the radically different cultural contexts and family settings in which the two men came to maturity.
On the other hand, Janaki, who is a romance character plays an important role in this movie. She loves Ramanujan very much and support him all the way. In the movie, the lonely wife Janaki pines away in India at last because his mother “forgets” to mail her countless letters requesting to visit him. There is misunderstanding between them. For me, as it is, the long-distance romance between Ramanujan and Janaki is less convincing than the mathematical romance that exists between Hardy and his young protégé. I think that his relationship is given a philosophical frisson by the fact that Hardy is an avowed atheist while Ramanujan believes all his insights come from his belief in God – or Gods, considering he's a Hindu.
