ironhorse_iv Review of Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Carpe diem! Seize the day! Make your lives extraordinary! Watch Dead Poets Society!

[8/10 · 26 February 2021]

Set at a fictional uptight authoritarian American elite boarding school in the 1950s, the motion picture directed by Peter Weir tells the story of an unorthodox English teacher John Keating (Robin Williams) inspiring his students to think for themselves through the power of poetry. Without spoiling the film too much, the movie was nominated for four Academy Awards and won best screenplay. I love that Tom Schulman semi-autobiographical script doesn't use a few poetic lines as one-time throwaways inspiration quotes. He really did work it out to fit what the characters were indeed going throughout the movie. There is no better example of this than Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) gaining the stage part of Puck in William Shakespeare's fantasy masterpiece 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. In these few sequences with this character, we see the glimpses of happiness, dreams and death that Keating has been divulging. Triumph and tribulation. A small slice of life. Even if the youthfulness of most of the students visually doesn't really come across that well due to most of the performers looking older than they seems. Yet Ethan Hawke does look the part. His acting as Todd Anderson outshines everybody even Robin. Such heavy emotional powerful delivery. So, it was a shock to hear that Williams would often tease Hawke for his style of acting. I guess he was jealous of Ethan and angry that his career might dry up after his recent ugly divorce. Thank God, Robin matured enough to patched things up after this film and help the young actor find future roles. Talk about being nearly hypocritical. Anyways Hawke's performance brought out some really great visually beautiful shot moments in the film. Yawping and the tossing the work desk scenes are great, but the sequence that stood out to me is one take wonder where Todd cries in the snow. Glad that they got it before the frost started to fade. Can't believe that was originally going to be an interior shot. The director and crew made the right decision with that wide shot as it shows how lonely, lost and overwhelm the character can be. Along with that, the impressive low angle camera angle of nearly all the Dead Poet Society members standing tall and looking at things from a different perspective makes the downer ending a little more pleasure to watch. In truth, cinematographer John Sela really deserved an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. These visuals shots are remarkable. Along with that, composer Maurice Jarre should had been nod for Best Original Score. Astonishing music to the ears. Even if his use of bagpipes "The Fields of Athenry" wasn't historical accurate, as the piece was composed in the 1970s. Other historical inaccuracies nitpick that came with this was poem misquotes and people reading books that have yet to published in the 1950s. Nevertheless, if there are any real flaws that comes with this picture, it would have to be the fact that part of the movie hasn't aged well and would unlikely get through modern day sensitivity. One such example is the disturbing ways that Knox Overstreet (Josh Charles) tries to win the heart of a girl he only met once. Seeing him grope her when she's asleep and excessive lust for her to the point that she got angry; didn't really made me want to root for him. He come across as an aggressive creep that fit the definition of sexual predator. I found the love story not really charming. It's perhaps the weakest part. Then there is the character of Charlie Dalton (Gale Hansen) making an excuse to act like a trouble maker by using what come across as a made-up African lampoon name despite the context of the words referring to the Slavic people of eastern Germany. Having him act like a stereotypical minstrel show clown pimp without the blackface is a bit cringeworthy. Another thing that might stop modern audiences from watching this movie is how on the surface level, it is a generic WASP coming to age story. A context that isn't really appealing these days with most Millennials going to public school full of a variety of melting pot students. This movie certainly failed the Bechdel test and diversity index. There wouldn't be many young viewers that can related to these boys. However, I think there might be some Millennials & Zoomers that can find something about themselves in these characters; either with the universal educational themes toward mental health. Particularly when it comes to trying to rise up from depression and suicidal thoughts. I like that the film still tries to promote an idealistic viewpoint even though a lot of situations in the film are firmly on the cynical end. Unfortunate that religious aspect isn't one of them. Faith in the school is made out to look like an authoritarian system of control rather than a normal way of dealing with guilt and learning to heal. I have mixed feeling about how that was portrayal. Along with the idea that it's ok to vandalize school property like censoring ideas that go against his teachings by ripping out pages from a textbook. Some of Keating's actions can seem polarizing. Nevertheless, Williams gives out a performance that really spoke to the struggles and dilemma of balancing free will when it comes to youth; with the actors playing the students all roomed together to help build up a believable bond. The film's final scene farewell salute to him is very reminiscent of The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "The Changing of the Guard" with their teacher. Along with many future parodies. Now that scene is almost impossible to watch without feeling like a send-off for Williams rather than his character. The suicidal themes of the film are now harsher in hindsight after that actor passing. Despite that, o' captain, my captain this movie is still worth the watch. A near poetry in motion masterpiece.