-- By Laura Pelcher

A man whose home is in a suitcase and a woman whose home is in her head are the subjects of the final film- Great Genius and Profound Stupidity. The director, Benita Raphan, takes on these historical eccentrics to demonstrate that genius and stupidity are twin concepts. The woman, Helen Keller, was deaf and blind since before the age of two. Without any visual or audio memories, she is somehow able to lyrically describe her surroundings with rare insight. And yet, if she had not had intervention, she would have been instituted and ignored. The man, Paul Erdos, is a homeless mathematical genius. Living out of two small suitcases, Erdos is a rolling stone. Math is everywhere and his sole purpose is to gain insight from anyone and everyone. He had five to six hundred co-authors and contributors and was broke his entire life: any prize money won was donated. No money, home, family or belongings does not equal success in our society, and yet perhaps that is what left Erdos free to accomplish what he did.

Raphan demonstrates how close genius and stupidty are with the final eccentric genius: Ian Carrison, a nine-year old who talks about particle physics the way most boys his age talk about Harry Potter. Interviews of Carrison discussing complex math problems in a breathless voice that couldn’t keep up with his excitement were so atypical and bizarre that they evoked laughter from the audience despite the previous lessons of geniuses who were laughed at. Perhaps we are allowed to laugh, so long as we quickly open our minds and use our imagination to accept the great geniuses and the profoundly stupid alike.

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