It takes some time for director Scott Hicks’ Shine (1996) to deliver on its auspicious title, but when it does it delivers in spades. About an hour into the film there is a scene that better displays the human capacity for passion than any vignette of sex ever could. In a concert hall a young man sits at a Steinway. He is accompanied by an orchestra and plays to a packed house, but to him the only ones in the room are his fingers, the keys, and Rachmaninoff. He plays furiously. He no longer needs the notes on the page. His hands have formed the memory of how to play them a thousand times over. His mind is consumed.
David Helfgott is one of the most promising young classical musicians in the world, but at the height of his promise he succumbs to his demons. Tortured by years of emotional stifling by his overbearing stage father, he has no way of handling the success that seems sure to come his way. His mind is fragmented and seems evermore prone to lapses from reality. He wishes his father loved him. He wishes that he could play Rachmaninoff’s notes in a way that might somehow draw that love out. He wishes that the human heart were as easy to tune as the piano. As with so many gifted musicians, his mind can comprehend the most difficult of melodic and harmonic structures, but causes him to break from reality as well. David eventually finds himself in a home for the mentally unstable. Years later, when he reemerges, his love for music has not subsided. With the help of those who become his friends he is able to find joy in playing piano that he has not experienced since young childhood. In finding his happiness, he brings it to others as well, playing nightly in a small bar. Shine is a story of redemption that sparkles in some areas and lacks in others. Structurally, it jumps between the past and the present in a way that feels unjustified. It also hints at taking narrative avenues that it has no intension of following, and when it does decide where it’s going it has the abrupt wrap-up of a “Full House” episode. But the performances here are where the luster lies. Geoffrey Rush won an Oscar for his portrayal of the rejuvenated adult Helfgott, while the underrated Noah Taylor embodies him as a young man. Likewise, Armin Mueller-Stahl was nominated for his excellent work as David’s domineering father.
These brilliant performances in combination with the disjointed structure make for an uneven film, but one that leaves little to be desired in its portrayal of the capacity of the human spirit. In some way it insinuates that artistic genius can be developed through severe suffering, but that good will ultimately triumph. I’d be cynical about this message in a lesser film, but, while it is not pitch perfect, here I’m inclined to be swept away by it. Beautiful music and virtuoso performances make Shine worth any viewer’s time.
I believe that the reputation of this film has suffered as a result of the fact that Roman Polanski’s The Pianist (2002) was released six years later. That film is better than this one and includes its own Oscar winning performance (Adrian Brody). It ostensibly appears to be similar and has its own moving message about the human spirit. However, both of these films deserve to be seen, and it is my hope that no potential viewer sees one at the expense of seeing the other.
Grade: 2.5 Hats Off
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