Lambie Reviews Shine

Year: 1996
Accolades: One of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die; Earned Geoffrey Rush Academy Award for Best Actor; Nominated For Best Picture; Best Picture at the AFIs

Shine a biographical tale of the struggles that pianist David Helfgott went through during his life. He was an extremely talented musician, but he was pushed to the extreme and manipulated by his father who wanted to command and dictate how his son reached success. Eventually, David heads to the Royal College of Music in London, where the pressure to perform that everyone (including himself) places on him causes him to have a breakdown and collapse onstage moments after his biggest performance. (As far as I know the collapse didn't actually happen in reality, but that's what's depicted on screen.)

If there are two types of films I normally have problems with, it is biopics and Australian films. Biopics never have a proper emotional arc, usually being just a bunch of stuff that happens without a proper second and third act. Many Australian films I've watched over the years have also been dissapointments because I can't relate or connect to them in any way. They try too hard to be "typically Australian" and just end up being stereotypically Australian. Shine is different. There's a universal emotional undertone in this film that transcends the need to enjoy classical music or to have some sort of “Australian feel” to it. I think this is part of the reason why the film has been so successful (and I also suspect why a similar recent film, The Sapphires has also been so successful).

The other factor in Shine's success, of course, is that it is a fantastically made film. Geoffrey Rush is truly deserving of his Oscar, and the rest of the cast are just as good. Noah Taylor (whom you Game of Thrones fans might recognise) in particular does a wonderful job of portraying the tormented Helfgott as a teenager and young adult, particularly when he starts to show subtle signs that he not be entirely stable.

Being a musical film, it obviously hinges on the soundtrack, and it is masterfully considered. There are haunting moments of dead silence in amongst the film's classically dominated soundtrack, and some of the other sound effects and editing really help to portray those moments of unease or absolute joy. Combined with the editing and cinematography, this is a film that manipulates your emotions in the same way that a great piece of music does. A particularly good highlight is the performance at the Royal College of Music. Everything starts off as just a very talented musician doing his thing, but as the music fades in and out and as time starts to slows down, we start to realise that something's not quite right and this performance might not end in a happy way. The tension in the scene is almost unbearable.

There has been some criticism from Margaret Helfgott about the portrayal of her and David's father. There is some concern that he is portrayed much more negatively than the man he really was. I wouldn't call the portrayal negative. What I saw in that character was a flawed man. A man who loved music, and who loved his family. There is one scene where he crosses the line, and I felt that this particular scene actually ruined the concept that we aren't seeing the typically cliched demanding, pushy parent that we so often see in these sorts of films. He does what he does out of the love of his sone and of music. Sometimes he is misguided but sometimes he may actually be right, even if he expresses his reasoning the wrong way.

There are other flaws in the film too, the emotional arc overall seems a bit wonky towards the end for example, but the film ultimately achieves what it set out to do. It shows as the tragic, sometimes painful to watch decline of what could have been a truly great musician if it had not been for the onset of Schizophrenia, and his ultimate redemption when he regains his confidence in performing (even if the original talent has diminished).