• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Film
  • DVD
  • Editorial
  • About ScreenFish

ScreenFish

where faith and film are intertwined

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • News
  • OtherFish
  • Podcast
  • Give

based on true story

The Man Who Knew Infinity – The Mathematics of Faith

September 1, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“An equation has no meaning to me unless it expresses a thought of God.”

Theoretical mathematics may not seem a fertile ground for a movie, yet there have been some very popular and acclaimed films grounded in that discipline (A Beautiful Mind and The Imitation Game come to mind). It may seem even less likely to use that field to speak of the nature of faith.  The Man Who Knew Infinity is both entertaining and thought-provoking.

man infinifty 3

This is the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan, a mathematician without formal education who is “discovered” by G. H. Hardy, a Cambridge professor. Ramanujan goes to England at the start for World War I, leaving his wife and mother in India. There he strives to have his work published, but Hardy demands that he provide proofs for his very complex (and exciting to mathematicians) equations. Ramanujan must put up with the racist and classist prejudices of the others at the university (which includes dietary issues) and with Hardy’s personal coldness. Can this brilliant mind (called miraculous by one professor) find its way to not only great discoveries, but the recognition of his genius?

In the film math serves as the medium that allows the characters to talk about not just numbers, but about existential meaning. For Ramanujan, mathematics is an aesthetic. He explains it to his wife as a painting with colors you cannot see. Mathematics is not about the practical, but about beauty. He is obsessed at finding and sharing the wonders that he finds in the numbers he works with. But Hardy is not willing to accept the beauty without understanding how it is found. His demand of proofs, a key part of any mathematic work, is really a reflection of his own view of reality. Hardy is an atheist because he refuses to accept what cannot be proved. They come from two different world views, yet in the language and processes of mathematics they can come to understand one another.

man infinity 2

Hardy’s atheism is not incidental to the story. It becomes the way the film is able to talk about ultimate ideas. What is impossible for Hardy to believe is essential to Ramanujan. In one sense this may reflect the way many people expect that science and religion are by their natures incompatible. But the film moves beyond that to try to show that they blend together in seeing the world through clearer eyes than either can see alone. At one point Ramanujan even claims that the source of his insights is his god. The discussions about faith and doubt don’t strive to convert, but serve to help the two men to understand each other. Hardy is not moved to leave his atheism, but he does get insight into what it means to believe something or someone. Ramanujan finds meaning in his proofs that provide even more beauty to his painting of invisible colors. There are indeed many ways to see the beauty of the world around us. Atheist, Hindus, Christians and others all appreciate that beauty however we may describe or ascribe it.

Photos courtesy of IFC Films

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: based on true story, Bertrand Russell, Cambridge, England, G. H. Hardy, India, mathematics, Ramanujan, World War I

The Dark Horse – A Saving Presence

April 1, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“You are not what they are making you think you are.”

Based on a true story, The Dark Horse, follows Genesis (Gen) Potini, a one-time chess champion who spent years in and out of mental hospitals. While it’s not unusual for stories to have a Christ figure who is mentally ill, I found the unusual way that Gen serves in that role to be both fresh and challenging.

We get just a glimpse of Gen’s mental illness in the opening scene when he wanders down the street in the rain and into a store where he plays a solo chess game on a board there before the authorities come to take him away. When he is released he must live with someone, so moves in with his brother Ariki. It’s not a good fit. Gen needs calm and stability. Ariki is part of a violent Maori motorcycle gang. Ariki’s son Mana is a mild mannered fifteen year old, but Ariki is pushing to get Mana jumped into the gang. To feel needed Gen volunteers as a local chess club (where chess is rarely played) for disadvantaged youth. He soon has them preparing for the national junior chess tournament. When Ariki kicks him out of the house, Gen sleeps at a memorial overlooking the city. As he mentors the players and tries to provide Mana with an alternative to the life in the gang, Gen also struggles to maintain his own connection with reality and life.

For Gen chess is more than a game—it is his connection to his heritage. As he teaches chess to Maori children he connects them to their warrior folklore. He also demonstrates that the pieces all work together as a community—as a family. So when he has them all take pieces from a special chess set to serve as talismans in their playing, he also has them bring them back to keep the family together.

The Dark Horse is a richly layered film that allows viewers to plug into it in a variety of ways. On one level, it is a sports film in which the wisdom of the ages is passed down to a new generation. It follows the convention of such films by taking us to the tournament where the children must play on their own (which is harder for Gen than it is for them). It values community and reflects on some of the healthy and unhealthy ways we seek community in our lives. Ariki and his gang are a type of family just as the chess club becomes for Gen and the children. For Mana, a choice must be made between these two paths to community—or maybe the choice will be made for him by Ariki.

But for me this is the kind of film that draws me in at a theological level. I mentioned above that Gen serves as a Christ figure. Often that means one who is sacrificed to save another. When Gen interacts with Ariki and the gang, that is always a potential. But Gen is not so much a sacrifice as a presence. Even given his tentative grasp on sanity, Gen represents the coming presence of one who brings new life—both to the kids in the chess club and to Mana. That atonement (to use the theological term) does not take place through sacrifice (although it plays a part), but rather through Gen’s decision to be a part of their lives and to create with them a community that is based not in power but in acceptance of all who come. Gen, then, is a model for Incarnational Atonement—the concept that it is in the Incarnation, the Word becoming Flesh, that reconciliation, redemption, and salvation are found. The Dark Horse gives us a chance to consider what it means that God reaches out to us to be reconciled and what it means to find that connection to the one who comes to us.

Photo Credit: Steve King / Broad Green Pictures

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: based on true story, chess, Christ Figure, Maori, New Zealand

Primary Sidebar

THE SF NEWS

Get a special look, just for you.

sf podcast

Hot Off the Press

  • New Trailer for THIRTEEN LIVES gets Underground
  • GIVEAWAY! Advance Screening of PAWS OF FURY!
  • Rise: Another Disney Slam Dunk
  • The Long Rider: The Long Journey Inward
  • The Black Phone: Answering the Call to Fight Back
Find tickets and showtimes on Fandango.

where faith and film are intertwined

film and television carry stories which remind us of the stories God has woven since the beginning of time. come with us on a journey to see where faith and film are intertwined.

Footer

ScreenFish Articles

New Trailer for THIRTEEN LIVES gets Underground

GIVEAWAY! Advance Screening of PAWS OF FURY!

  • About ScreenFish
  • Privacy Policy

© 2022 · ScreenFish.net · Built by Aaron Lee

Posting....
 

Loading Comments...