Drama,History,Mystery,Thriller
Ireland,United States of America,France
The Professor and the Madman is a historical drama film directed by Farhad Safinia and released in 2019. It is based on the 1998 book The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester.
The movie revolves around the story of Professor James Murray, played by Mel Gibson, who is tasked with supervising the creation of the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary. He discovers that the project is way more extensive than he initially thought and requires a lot of work.
As Professor Murray accepts contributions from volunteers, he receives ten thousand entries from a man named Dr. William Minor, played by Sean Penn. Dr. Minor is an inmate at Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, having been committed there after murdering an innocent man in a fit of paranoia.
Despite his mental illness, Dr. Minor has an incredible knowledge of the English language, and his contributions to the dictionary prove to be invaluable. Professor Murray starts to correspond with Minor to get more information about the words and discovers the truth about his situation.
The relationship between the two men becomes more personal as the story evolves, with Murray visiting Minor at the asylum and becoming friends with him despite their vastly differing backgrounds. However, the project, and their friendship, are threatened when Minor’s past is revealed, leading to a dramatic conclusion.
The movie received mixed reviews from critics and audiences, with praise for the performances of the actors and the cinematography, but criticisms for the pacing and historical accuracy. Nevertheless, it is a gripping tale of the creation of one of the most important books in the history of the English language and the unlikely collaboration that brought it to life.
