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Easy as Pi Maybe Not...
Easy as 'p'? Maybe not'
Some people argue that independent film is a purer form of film when compared to the high budget Hollywood blockbusters. Independent films usually show exactly what the writer intends whereas the higher budget competitors become a mix of the writer's and producer's desires, targeted at the viewer's attention and their money. The movie 'p' is about the climactic downfall of a middle-aged mathematician's life as he searches for one thing ' an answer to chaos and randomness.
The movie is about Sean Gullette's character, Maximillian Cohen, a man with a numerical gift. According to Max, he gazed at the sun at some point during his childhood, forcing his hospitalization. This staring at the sun was the catalyst causing him to begin to think numerically. He instantly became a number theorist and sought the answer to nature's randomness.
The movie was named 'p' because the actual number p, 3.1415926' is the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference. In the movie, a 216-digit number is said to be the ratio that brings anything in nature down to its mathematical components. Max was searching for this universal constant, but was unsure of what he was actually looking for. On a daily basis, Max used his supercomputer, Euclid, (which spanned his entire Chinatown apartment) to make attempts at computing this value. Some days he would make accurate predictions, others he might not have been so lucky, but he never considered it luck ' it was all math.
Two groups apparently had been following Max at this point ' a group of Hasidic Jews and a stock market trading house. They were both also seeking this 216-digit number for their own reasons. The Jews needed it because in their language each letter is given a corresponding number. This 216-digit number is supposedly God's real name, spelled out in its numerical format, or so the Torah says. The trading house knew this 216-digit number could predict the rise and fall of stock market values. One group was after salvation while the other was after money. Max could care less about either one, as he was after satisfaction ' the closer he came to this number, the more insane he became. He felt that if he found this number he would also find peace and tranquility within himself, as he will have found a reason for everything.
Max was not traveling down this river alone, however. He had a mentor, an older man named Sol, who apparently at some time was pursuing Max's desires as well. Sol ran into some complications along the same path as Max, and reluctantly gave up to avoid further health complications. Max stubbornly would not take Sol's advice. Sol did bring Max to realize that he had found his number. The same number which Max had thrown out earlier that morning with the impression that it was an error in his computer, which crashed only seconds after it had been computed. It was a sign Max was unaware ...
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