Good Will Hunting--A Movie Review

review-saul.qxp 2/9/98 3:49 PM Page 500 Movie Review Good Will Hunting Reviewed by Mark Saul Good Will Hunting who works as a janitor at MIT and cannot resist Miramax Films displaying anonymously his solutions to (suppos- Starring Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, edly) baffling mathematical problems. The identity Stellan Skarsgard, and Minnie Driver of the solver is discovered just about the time that Screenplay by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Will (Matt Damon) is arraigned for his part in a Directed by Gus Van Sant street brawl. His subsequent court-ordered su- pervision by a professor of mathematics and Fields The place of mathematics in general culture, and Medalist (Professor Lambeau, played by Stellan particularly in the arts, has varied only a little Skarsgard) includes psychological counseling. This since Plato set the basic tone. He saw mathemat- sets the plot in motion. Will’s feelings about him- ics as pure rationality, but also as a glimpse of di- self, about a woman he courts, about his gift and vine reality contained within even the lowest slave- his background are explored and developed boy. In more recent times this rationality came to through his interaction with the psychologist (mas- be a metaphor for a lack of emotion (Whitman’s terfully portrayed by Robin Williams) whose back- Astronomer) or transcendent but inhuman beauty ground turns out to be similar. (Millay’s Euclid). More recently, Stoppard’s play So what role does mathematics play in all this? Arcadia sets mathematics as rationality against ro- Alfred Hitchcock’s metaphor of the “MacGuffin” manticism but views both as extremes. Luckily, comes to mind: an object or idea that drives the mathematics (but not the physical sciences) has plot and with which everyone in the film, but not been spared the symbolism of forbidden knowl- the audience, is preoccupied. In Hitchcock’s films edge, fraught with ethical dilemmas (Faust, the MacGuffin might be a military secret, a hidden Frankenstein, Rappacini). In contrast, the film Good treasure, or someone’s identity. This film’s Will Hunting is more balanced, and its math- MacGuffins are Will’s talent and the mathematical ematicians are portrayed as more complex than problems that he solves so easily. Will could have those in the works referred to above. been gifted in biology, in physics, in languages Good Will Hunting is in fact not about math- and faced similar issues in his life. In fact, his in- ematics. It is the touching story of a young man’s tellect is drawn larger than life, so that he can talk struggle to transcend his Dickensian childhood, to about economics, learn organic chemistry, and discover his place in the world, and to achieve in- even defend himself in court, citing precedents with timacy with others. The main character, Will (the facility. So why mathematics? title is a play on his name), is a tough and preter- One reason is that mathematics is perceived as naturally gifted orphan from Boston’s South Side so obscure that few can do it. Indeed, this is among Mark Saul teaches mathematics in the Bronxville, NY, the few comments about mathematics that this film school district. His e-mail address is MSaul@ makes with which a mathematical audience will not compuserve.com. agree. The first frames of the film, under the open- 500 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 45, NUMBER 4 review-saul.qxp 2/9/98 3:49 PM Page 501 ing credits, are of a mathematical text out of focus site. O’Donnell says that he built on references in and blurred, as if beheld by a general reader who the script to select mathematical content for film- cannot construe it. The mathematics referred to ing. These references included eigenvectors, com- later on ranges from basic linear algebra, through plex analysis, graph theory, and combinatorics, simple graph theory, to Parseval’s theorem (mis- and the writers’ choices were probably not guided pronounced in the film), Fourier analysis, and on by mathematical coherence. In a telephone inter- to what seem to be some deeper graph theoreti- view O’Donnell revealed that he used a paper on cal results. Mathematics is referred to constantly, graph theory (the reference from Mathematical but in no scene is it presented coherently. Will’s Reviews appears at the end of this article). Those gift, it seems, is valuable partly because it is so rare. curious about this particular MacGuffin are wel- Mathematics also highlights the class distinction come to look. between Will and the academics. Will is a tough So the mathematical reader will enjoy stringing street kid. His gift is admired but not envied by his together the bits of proof and calculation that friends. Had he been gifted in sports or rock music, flash on the screen. Likewise, the Boston denizen the plot could not turn on the choice Will has to will have fun trying to discern which actors grew make between his background and his destiny. up in Boston and which have been coached for their The culture of mathematics does not fit well with accent. MIT alumni and Cambridge hands will that of blue-collar South Boston. amuse themselves identifying the locations (in And it is not particularly “our fault”. Professor fact, most of the film was shot in Toronto, at- Lambeau takes great pains to keep Will out of jail, tracted there by tax breaks and the Canadian dol- to find him a job which uses his talents, and to get lar). All these details have about the same impor- him appropriate counseling. It is Will, out of loy- tance to the total effect of the film. alty to his background, who thwarts Lambeau’s ef- Yet the film does contribute to the public image forts, until a poorly motivated breakthrough in of mathematics. The Fields Medal gets some ex- his therapy (the weakest detail of the film) allows posure, including an incident in a bar where it him to begin a reconciliation between the two emerges that Unabomber Ted Kaczinsky is better worlds he has come to know. known than any Fields Medalist. Some of the most The people that create mathematics fare some- memorable scenes in the film concern a series of what better in the film than the subject itself. Lam- job interviews that Lambeau sets up for Will. Pre- beau is a hard-working guy who drinks and talks dictably Will disdains these offers, but the se- tough with the Robin Williams character. He is quence shows us a glimpse of the import that much more patient with Will’s foibles than one mathematical research has for the emerging world might expect, but not so sensitive to another grad- economy. uate student, a background character who is shown The film can also contribute to the self-knowl- up by Will’s talents, is clearly miffed, but is still edge of the mathematical community. One lesson able to support and admire Will. A third math- we can learn is about social class. It is Will’s back- ematician, an established professor, is crestfallen ground, and not just his abuse as a child, that pre- and humiliated when Will points out an error in a vents his talents from surfacing. We would do well proof and offers the correct alternative on the to remember, in our efforts to include members spot. Each character has a different adaptation to of underrepresented groups in mathematics, that working with the intractable material of math- there can be as much resistance to our efforts ematics, and the viewer will find each in some from the students we work with as from the sys- measure familiar. The least familiar situation is tem we work in. Will’s own. He is not portrayed as ever struggling But social reality is not everything, and Will’s per- with anything mathematical. Without the presence sonal struggle is at the center of the film. Perhaps of such a struggle, the achievement of making a the most important point in this for mathemati- mathematical discovery easily loses its attraction, cians is made by Lambeau’s graduate student, the and so the film misses an essential emotional el- one who finds himself outshone by Will. When ement of the experience of doing mathematics (I Will bridles at some of Lambeau’s suggestions, the am indebted to Hyman Bass for this insight). In- graduate student tells him, in a scene which brings deed, no one in the film is portrayed as taking par- life to this minor character, how lucky he is to ticular pleasure in doing mathematics. have a teacher who cares about him. The film did have “coaches” for the mathemat- And I think we should take this to heart. We ics. One was Daniel Kleitman, of MIT, who tells his don’t nurture our young mathematicians nearly own story in a sidebar. Listed in the credits as enough. Even those who have every advantage of “math consultant” was Patrick O’Donnell, a physi- family, education, and resources have an uphill bat- cist at the University of Toronto, who was originally tle establishing their careers. We would do well to hired as an extra. His authentic Irish brogue is examine our treatment as a community of these heard in a bar scene late in the film, and he can be gifted young people. Mathematical talent is where recognized from a photograph posted on his Web you find it, but remains lodged in us useless un- APRIL 1998 NOTICES OF THE AMS 501 review-saul.qxp 2/9/98 3:49 PM Page 502 less there is a reason, a personal reward, for de- Reference veloping it.

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