The Professor and the Madman

[peter]

Farhad Safinia's film based upon the book by Simon Winchester The Surgeon of Crowthorn, tells the story of the autodidact genius James Murray and his relationship with murderer and lunatic asylum inmate Dr William Chester Minor. Murray, reluctantly given the task of compiling the first exhaustive survey of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, is struggling to fulfill his brief until approached by letter by a seeming organisational genius who neglects to mention that he is incarcerated in Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally Insane, but does proffer the hand of some very significant assistance in the herculean task with which he has been entrusted. Some ten thousand words of addition later, Murray approaches for the first time his able assistant in person, only to discover his debilitated state and precariously unbalanced mind.

With Mel Gibson filling the role of Murray and Sean Penn taking that of Minor, it was always going to be an acting masterclass and both are good - very good. But oddly I didn't get the impression that either had been particularly challenged by their respective roles. These two consummate professionals both seemed to me, to be able to knock off these parts almost in their sleep. This didn't detract from the film in the slightest - it was very good - but I don't think that either performer will be remembered for their brilliance on the basis of this particular film.

But having said that, this is a seriously good bit of filmmaking and deserves much more publicity than it has had to date. The supporting cast of Jennifer Ehley, Steve Coogan and others step up to the plate as well and all in all a fine two hours of cinematic entertainment is delivered. The sub-story of the relationship that develops between the murderer and the wife of the man he has killed lends added weight to the story and at the end is as central, if not more so, than the dictionary based story by which it is framed.

Good stuff all round!

[Rigel]

Oh, I've heard of this story before; it sounds incredibly interesting. I've had trouble watching Mel Gibson the last few years, though, unless he's playing a cartoonish villain like in Machete.

[peter]

Give him a try in this one Rigel; it's a sincere performance that while it doesn't really stretch him, does allow him to perform in a story worthy of his talents. Definitely worth the time spent watching it and available on Amazon Prime in the UK at present.