Dead Poets Society [PG]

When charismatic English professor, John Keating, arrives at a strict boys school, his unconventional and untraditional teaching methods breathe new life into the into the curriculum that is steeped in tradition. With his wit, wisdom, and passion for poetry, he inspires the boys to pursue individual passions, each that no boy would dare have dreamed to pursue before, and make their lives important and extraordinary. 

One of the most emotionally moving and inspirational films ever, Dead Poets Society is a cinematic triumph for Peter Weir. Although is does not earn a place in The Book, it truly is a film that no person should go their lives without seeing as it harbours such beautiful stories, wonderful performances, memorable characters, and iconic moments. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! 

When charismatic English professor, John Keating, arrives to take a teaching post a strict boys school, his unconventional and untraditional teaching methods breathe new life into a curriculum that is steeped in tradition. With his wit, wisdom, and passion for poetry, he inspires the boys to pursue individual passions, some that they would never have dared to before, and make their lives important, extraordinary, and all their own. 

I think the major reason why I love this film is that it’s absolute gold from an English student’s point of view. There are so many wondrous and dramatic themes and metaphors that can be interpreted and explored, which gives the film its inflection of being a poem in itself. As we see the boys interpreting meanings in Keating’s poems, we as an audience are doing the same, but instead of the poem, we are interpreting the characters’ actions and statements. The most powerful and iconic example of this is the climactic final scene which sees a number of the boys stand up on their desks, ignoring their schoolmaster’s repeated orders to sit down. By merely looking at the gesture of standing on the table, you can see that the boys are showing defiance and exercising their own personal power; they are standing up against tradition, against order, for what they believe in, and for themselves. The film is riddled with emotive and delicious metaphoric scenes such as this and it’s a delight to watch them and go “ah I see what they’re doing.” IT’S FANTASTIC! 

The film is perfectly balanced too, which is something that I look for in a good movie. The audience is exposed to dramatic stories, a bit of romance, adversity, inspiration, defiance, sadness, and comedy, and all this keeps you completely captivated and makes the time fly, seriously it did not feel as though this film went for two hours. 

Starring Robin Williams, Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman, Allelon Ruggiero, James Waterston, Kurtwood Smith, and Norman Lloyd, Dead Poets Society is a wonderful film that is filled with power, emotion, poetry, defiance, romance, dreams, passion, friendship, and comedy. It’s absolutely beautiful and if I were to write my own version of The Book, it would definitely be in there! 

Captain my captain!