Beautiful Minds
(1) Memory Masters - The Mysterious World Of The Savants
Beautiful Minds‘ approaches the vast scientific field of brain research through the most fascinating ‚research projects‘, the Savants. Currently there are around one hundred recognised Savants with genius-like talents worldwide. Savants can multiply 5-digit numbers in their heads, or know 12,000 books by heart, while some can play a melody on the piano after hearing it only once. For all brain researchers the Savants are a fascinating window into the brain. Experts all over the world are now starting to ask themselves: is it in fact a defect that turns a person into a genius?
Rüdiger Gamm, who is presenting his abilities of a living pocket calculator for „Beautiful Minds“ is probably a rare example. He is able, like a real Savant, to calculate by heart and in almost no time the most outrageous mathematical calculations. Yet he doesn‘t seem to have any disabilities, and scientists do not regard him as a Savant, hence his mysterious talents. Rüdiger is like a bridge between Savants and people with ordinary brains.
Orlando Serrell was 10 when he was struck by a baseball on his temple. Since then, Orlando can remember every single detail of every single day of his life: from what he had for lunch to the colour of the socks he was wearing three years before. And the archive in his head keeps growing every day. He is an „Acquired Savant“.
Kim Peek from Salt Lake City is the “Real Rain Man”. The Hollywood Movie „Rain Man“ (starring Tom Cruise) portrayed Kim. He was impersonated by Dustin Hoffmann. Hoffmann earned an Oscar for his performance of the movie character, which was re-named „Raymond Babbitt“.
Kim Peek passed away soon after the production of „Beautiful Minds“ in 2009. For „Beautiful Minds“ he was still in best possible health shape. Kim didn‘t read books – he scanned them: one page of a book with one eye and the other page at the same time with his other eye within 8 seconds. Kim recorded any data like a computer hard drive: melodies, names, historic dates, every area code of every place in the USA. But Kim payed a price for his mysterious abilities: To his sudden death, at the age of 58, the Mega-Savant, never could live on his own. He remained under the care of his father Fran Peek.
Howard Potter can calculate since he was a child the exact number of peas on his plate just by a glance, but is still dependent on his mother´s help in daily life and has been for over 40 years. Howard loves square roots and prime numbers and even more: the endless reservoir of soccer results. Not for the sports´sake, but for the numbers.
Where does memory come from? Why do we remember some things and forget others? What kind of filters are responsible for recording some data and deleting others? Or do we record everything, like Prof. Gerhard Roth of the University of Bremen says? And if we record everything – how can we open the secret chambers of our memory like the savants do?
Rüdiger Gamm, who is presenting his abilities of a living pocket calculator for „Beautiful Minds“ is probably a rare example. He is able, like a real Savant, to calculate by heart and in almost no time the most outrageous mathematical calculations. Yet he doesn‘t seem to have any disabilities, and scientists do not regard him as a Savant, hence his mysterious talents. Rüdiger is like a bridge between Savants and people with ordinary brains.
Orlando Serrell was 10 when he was struck by a baseball on his temple. Since then, Orlando can remember every single detail of every single day of his life: from what he had for lunch to the colour of the socks he was wearing three years before. And the archive in his head keeps growing every day. He is an „Acquired Savant“.
Kim Peek from Salt Lake City is the “Real Rain Man”. The Hollywood Movie „Rain Man“ (starring Tom Cruise) portrayed Kim. He was impersonated by Dustin Hoffmann. Hoffmann earned an Oscar for his performance of the movie character, which was re-named „Raymond Babbitt“.
Kim Peek passed away soon after the production of „Beautiful Minds“ in 2009. For „Beautiful Minds“ he was still in best possible health shape. Kim didn‘t read books – he scanned them: one page of a book with one eye and the other page at the same time with his other eye within 8 seconds. Kim recorded any data like a computer hard drive: melodies, names, historic dates, every area code of every place in the USA. But Kim payed a price for his mysterious abilities: To his sudden death, at the age of 58, the Mega-Savant, never could live on his own. He remained under the care of his father Fran Peek.
Howard Potter can calculate since he was a child the exact number of peas on his plate just by a glance, but is still dependent on his mother´s help in daily life and has been for over 40 years. Howard loves square roots and prime numbers and even more: the endless reservoir of soccer results. Not for the sports´sake, but for the numbers.
Where does memory come from? Why do we remember some things and forget others? What kind of filters are responsible for recording some data and deleting others? Or do we record everything, like Prof. Gerhard Roth of the University of Bremen says? And if we record everything – how can we open the secret chambers of our memory like the savants do?
Facts
Shot in HDTV on original locations in Germany, France, USA, Australia, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom
Beautiful Minds was licenced to more than 50 countries around the world.
It was nominated for the German TV Prize (Deutscher Fernsehpreis), the Adolf- Grimme-Prize and for Prix Europa.
First aired:
20th February 2006, 19.00 pm on Arte, 15th March 2006, 23.15 pm on ARD, 26th April 2006, 20.15 pm on 3 Sat, 22nd May 2006, 20.15 pm on Phoenix.
Credits
Written, directed and produced by: Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus
Director of Photography: Axel Petrovan
Video Editor: Jörg Wegner
Producer: Francesca D‘Amicis, Ralf Hoppe, Friederike Schmidt-Vogt
Line Producer: Svenja Mandel
Narration: Benjamin Völz
Commissioning Editors: Gerhard Widmer (Radio Bremen)
A colourFIELD production commissioned by Radio Bremen and ARTE
