Alek Keshishian's "With Honors" was shown on cable recently. The film tries to tells us that not all the knowledge in life comes in the way of a university education, but by experience and hard knocks, as is the case with Simon Wilder, a homeless man, who has more knowledge than the young people that befriend him.
"With Honors" is a film with good intentions. It presents us a group of four Harvard students sharing a house. They are bright and want to do well. In fact, they have been conditioned to excel in their studies, but in doing so, and coming from some money, they are not experienced in the ways of the world.
All that changes when Monty loses the only copy of his thesis that falls into the basement of the Harvard library. Breaking into the building he discovers the homeless person who is feeding his work to the furnace. Horrified, he wants to get it back, but Simon has other plans for him.
At the same time, Simon, has a dark past. That secret is only revealed toward the end, and it comes as a shock. Monte and his roommates have to deal with reality as they realize Simon is a sick man. At the end, Monte, who has been a student expected to graduate suma cum laude, realizes he has learned an important lesson in his meeting that strange man, and how his life has taken a different turn.
Mr. Keshishian got good acting in genera. Joe Pesce and Brendan Fraser do excellent job. Patrick Dempsey, Josh Hamilton, Moira Kelly and Gore Vidal make valuable contributions to the film.
"With Honors" is a film with good intentions. It presents us a group of four Harvard students sharing a house. They are bright and want to do well. In fact, they have been conditioned to excel in their studies, but in doing so, and coming from some money, they are not experienced in the ways of the world.
All that changes when Monty loses the only copy of his thesis that falls into the basement of the Harvard library. Breaking into the building he discovers the homeless person who is feeding his work to the furnace. Horrified, he wants to get it back, but Simon has other plans for him.
At the same time, Simon, has a dark past. That secret is only revealed toward the end, and it comes as a shock. Monte and his roommates have to deal with reality as they realize Simon is a sick man. At the end, Monte, who has been a student expected to graduate suma cum laude, realizes he has learned an important lesson in his meeting that strange man, and how his life has taken a different turn.
Mr. Keshishian got good acting in genera. Joe Pesce and Brendan Fraser do excellent job. Patrick Dempsey, Josh Hamilton, Moira Kelly and Gore Vidal make valuable contributions to the film.