Kevin Kline movies are an easy sell for me. He is that good an actor. He translates well into almost any role. This movie surprised me for the reaction I had regarding this very special teacher. I think a movie such as this, and Dead Poets Society, tap into that feeling of remembering a teacher that changed your life. There is no greater honor a teacher can have than the knowledge that they made a positive impression on a student. The only better time for a teacher is when those students, in admiration for their teacher, let him know years later.
The lessons taught in this movie are about honesty, integrity, and self examination. It is not so naive that the individual who compromises all of that loses in the end. Sedgewick Bell is too powerful and his breeding allows him to not have to follow the rules but, in some ways, write the rules. He does however suffer in the end when the person he least wants to find out about his unethical behavior finds out. The look on that person's face, and Sedgewick's, really tells it all.
In the end Kline realizes his lack of abilities for promotion are not failure but rather a validation of his principles of what is important in life. Just because some others cannot see it doesn't make him out of touch. There are many threads to a fabric as there are in life. I highly recommend The Emperor's Club.
The lessons taught in this movie are about honesty, integrity, and self examination. It is not so naive that the individual who compromises all of that loses in the end. Sedgewick Bell is too powerful and his breeding allows him to not have to follow the rules but, in some ways, write the rules. He does however suffer in the end when the person he least wants to find out about his unethical behavior finds out. The look on that person's face, and Sedgewick's, really tells it all.
In the end Kline realizes his lack of abilities for promotion are not failure but rather a validation of his principles of what is important in life. Just because some others cannot see it doesn't make him out of touch. There are many threads to a fabric as there are in life. I highly recommend The Emperor's Club.