Shout out to Brandon's Blog

The role of Peter Helfgott in Shine is a complex one. Usually the father is a strong character that brings order to the film and grounds the rest of the characters. While Peter is a strong character, or gives the appearance of being strong, he brings nothing but disorder and chaos to the other characters in the ensemble. As my colleague Brandon writes in his blog, “When he is upset, everything else stops and he has the floor to say whatever he pleases. He makes the children repeat little trite sayings that he chooses for them like, ‘I am a very lucky boy.’ He almost abuses his power in this way, as he makes his children suffer in order to obey their father’s orders.” I fully agree with Brandon’s assesment of the fury of Armin Mueller-Stahl’s character. Brandon goes on to discuss the implications about Peter being a Holocaust survivor. “Having survived a concentration camp, Peter Helfgott nearly creates one of his own, only this time he is one of the guards.” In fear of having his family torn apart once again, Peter does all he can to control all aspects of his household. He even goes to such extremes as to prevent David from pursung his dream to become a famed pianist by not allowing him to go to America. Over and over Peter is pictured alongside images evoking the feelings of the Holocaust. In the beginning of the film he is standing behind a line of barbed wire and later on there is a close-up of his glasses with the reflection of the blazing fire being revealed. Both David and Peter Helfgott create odd and unusual ways to cope with their problems and in that way their relationship as father and son is shown clearly. That point is to be talked about next.