Spoilers ahead. Well, despite its many fabricated elements, I found A Beautiful Mind to be a very touching story. I mean, there the viewer is, introduced to Nash's best friend - the one who supposedly helps keep him going in college - only to find out later on that he roomed alone. I walked into the movie knowing that he did government work, so the entire operation being a delusion was a surprise; instead, we hypothesized that the shootout was the only fake element in the job. His major hallucination, in which his fake job and friend tell him to "take care of" his wife... well, that really got me. Mainly because he was so close to beating it until he stopped taking his meds, and he paid the price. And then, the second to final scene - where he's presented the pens at Princeton, one of those few moments of true recognition that he'd always wanted - there was another moment I cried. It's a shame that was fictitious. End plot spoilers, but below details Nash's real life.
Well, first off, his hallucinations in real life were only auditory as that's how Schizophrenia mainly works. Second, his wife did divorce him (although they did get back together after his winning the Nobel prize). Third, he worked for RAND rather than the Pentagon (in the canon of the movie, his very first job where he notices "big brother" is real). Also, he stopped taking his medication in the 1970's unless under big pressure - however, the movie implies that he continues so as not to encourage other schizophrenics to take a chance. Also, he never gave an acceptance speech when he got the Nobel prize.
I don't really know... maybe it's because my uncle has schizophrenia, but I didn't know him very well (he's currently comatose thanks to an operation gone wrong) so I doubt that's the entire case. I'm kind of a sap in general, so take the above as you will.
