Geoffrey Rush's Tour de Force

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2017)

This is a marvelous bio-pic of a man who suffers throughout life for his art. David Helfgott, an Australian, is a wunderkind pianist who is abused and betrayed by his father, and robbed of his childhood. It is sort of the classic smothering that takes place when a sensitive artist loses his soul for a time. Eventually, Helfgott gets to perform but finds himself immersed in schizophrenia and mental illness for years. The world lost him for a time. But there's more to the story. Geoffrey Rush, whom I had never heard of at the time, is brilliant as the damaged artist. He expresses the deep depression of the character and his genius. The film is able to show the darkness of the soul through its cinematography. The film is inspiring but only because of its portrayal of pain