Swimming Upstream By Russell Mulcahey: Film Analysis

The film swimming upstream by Russell Mulcahey can be examined from several different levels. It is the story about a young man who loves to swim and strives to be an Australian champion and go to the Olympics. The film follows Tony’s journey from childhood to young adult. His journey is focused in gaining his father’s attention and love. By the end of the film he realised his is never going to be recognised by his father so his energy goes into doing things for himself such as university and the Empire Games. On another level the story is about a father who has never quite made it and then uses his sons to try and accomplish something that he never achieved. It is also a story about a family dominated by an alcoholic father – he sets up a competitive environment for his two sons who compete both in the pool and out for their father’s attention. The film can also be an exploration of Australian masculinity. Shine was about David playing the piano for himself and then it was for his father and wining and then by the end of the film it was back for doing it for himself and wining but not for himself. Scott Hicks evolves David’s mental health from when he was a child to when he was a teenager and started showing symptoms of stuttering in …show more content…
To place the audience “inside” David’s head. This scene is emblematic of the film’s desire to create an empathetic relationship between its mentally ill protagonist and the audience. Through its deployment of melodrama and subjective cinematic devices, Shine invites us to put ourselves “in David’s