Review: The Man Who Knew Infinity
The best stories about geniuses are the real ones, much like Hawking in The Theory of Everything. The story of Srinivasa Ramanujan (played by Dev Patel), with its irresistibly meritocratic bent, is a tale that similarly inspires quiet awe. A young Indian man rises from humble beginnings and earns his way into Trinity College, Cambridge by stunning its fellows with his sheer (if raw) talent for pure mathematics. Lee Hsien Loong, hailing from Trinity College himself, would likely be nodding in approval too.
Given that Patel is portraying another earnest, winsome type of character once again, comparisons to Slumdog Millionaire are easy. This is fine. What's not, however, is how the film - perhaps inadvertently - dresses itself up as a math biopic, yet chooses to spare viewers the actual math. The Man Who Knew Infinity may have its heart in the right place, yet for much of the film, there is a nagging feeling that much more could be explained. Director Matthew Brown may have rightly wanted to keep his technicalities tidy, but there are other methods to do so without dumbing down the screenplay.
Still, intelligence can be earthed elsewhere in the film. Brown makes up for his shortcomings through a solidly paced story. With Ramanujan facing special persecution at every turn and themes that challenge our tolerance for unyielding institutions, there is enough material to mull over at the end. The central relationship between Ramanujan and his mentor, the distinguished mathematician GH Hardy (Jeremy Irons) is also key to the film's success.
Other important wins include authenticity (the film was shot on actual Cambridge grounds) and attention to emotion (as Ramanujan battles an afflicting disease). Audiences could do much worse when choosing a summer film, so while The Man Who Knew Infinity doesn't score top marks, at least it's in a relatively decent class of its own. - Thompson Wong
