Shine - Drama
Director: Scott Hicks
Year: 1996
Country: Australia
Duration: 105 mins
Rating: 12A
Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Justin Braine
More information (external website)
Based on the true story of Australian pianist David Helfgott, this film charts his traumatic early years. Telling the story in flashback viewers are presented with David as he grows up and into a child prodigy while his father abuses him and his siblings with the memory of his own childhood in Europe and the loss of his family in the concentration camps. David finally breaks away from his father and goes away to study overseas, he later suffers a breakdown and returns to Australia and a life in an institution. Many years later he is released and through several twists of fate (in reality even more unlikely than film portrays) he starts playing a piano in a bar before finally returning to the concert hall.