SHINE
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1996 Ben Hoffman
Briefly, SHINE is among the best, the most entertaining, the most involving film of the year. The film is, more or less loosely, based on the life of David Helfgott, an eccentric, fascinating Australian classical pianist and covers his life from 1950 to 1980. A great cast coupled with spellbinding music as well as the direction by Scott Hicks combine to make this a most memorable film. The film's title is from a press clipping his father saves which says that at the concert, "David Shines."
Using flashbacks, director Hicks shows David as an exceptional talent at a very early age, (Alex Rafalowicz), becoming a young man (Noah Taylor) and finally as a 40-year-old adult. The casting is superb so that not for a moment will you doubt that the three are really the same person at different ages. . . right down to their mannerisms.
David is a young Jewish boy whose father Peter (Armin Mueller-Stahl, who has been in some very fine films, most notably, THE MUSIC BOX) was deprived by the holocaust and other circumstances of being able to pursue a musical career and who now pushes his son so Peter can vicariously live the life which he never had, very similar to what Mozart's father did to him. He is constantly reminding young David of how lucky he is, making him repeat the phrase over and over: "I am lucky,".
When David gets a scholarship in America, his father turns it down. When David, now a young man, is able to go to a music school in London, his father, no longer able to impose his wishes on David tells him that if he leaves the house he will never be allowed to return. This is the biggest factor in David's suffering a nervous breakdown, receiving shock treatments and ending up in a psychiatric hospital.
One of the moments in the film that had me gulping back tears was when a woman who was a volunteer pianist at the hospital is playing.the piano. When David turns the page for her, she asks, "So you can read music?" and the disheveled, nervous David replies "Yes." The woman asks his name and when he tells her it is David Helfgott, she nods and suddenly it dawns on her who he is and what has become of him. . . a high point for me in this wonderful film.
Stage actor Geoffrey Rush is simply magnificent in his portrayal of David. Others in this exceptional cast are Lynn Redgrave, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Sonia Todd and Nicholas Bell. What more can we say except to urge you not to miss seeing this great film.
Rating: 4 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to miss 2 Bytes = Average 1 Byte = Save your money
Ben Hoffman
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