A Beautiful Mind and Iris

Two recent films are receiving accolades for their actors’ talents (the principle stars of both are up for Academy Awards), and audiences are responding to the strong emotional pull of their story lines. The makers of the films are to be congratulated for exploring the issues of mental illness (“Beautiful Mind”) and Alzheimer’s disease (“Iris”) and affirming the human dignity of the main characters, and the family and friends around them, as they suffer the effects of these afflictions…