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Essay on The Shine
Having wonderful movies made, winning Academy Awards, even having millions of people's hearts touched, isn't enough. Not when so many being denied medical care for a medical condition still wonder if, even in America, this truly is as good as it gets.
Our hearts may be moved, but it's our feet and voices that then have to get moving, get mad as hell to get out of the house and push the changes that are needed. The times we live in are out of joint, are unkind and unfair-and like it or not, want to or not, ordinary people like you and me are the ones that have to set it right.
And it's heroic struggles like these that people make movies about.
Creativity is an expression of our passion for life, and nourishing this capacity is a sacred obligation. When we are unable or unwilling to do so, others appear like angels, almost miraculously, to help us nurture our God-given gifts.
Shine is a remarkable Australian film which charts the creative odyssey of David Helfgott, a classical pianist. Although his stern and authoritarian father recognizes that David is a child prodigy, he is determined to control every aspect of his son's life.
The boy finds the support he needs to keep his soul alive in the presence of two angels - his music teacher and an elderly woman writer.
However, unable to bear the pressure to both prove himself to his father and to pull away from him, the musician suffers a nervous breakdown, just when he seems on the verge of a brilliant international career. He spends 15 years in a psychiatric hospital undergoing elctroshock treatment. Then two more angels appear in his life, showing him....
