Dead Poets Society DVD > Reviews > Carpe Diem and do something else

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Robin Williams
Disadvantages:	Unrealstic characters and ungrounded loyalties

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 film directed by Peter Weir, who also directed The Truman Show and Master and Commander. It won Tom Schulman the Academy Award for Original Screenplay but I think it may have been the highlight of his career as his other works include Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and What About Bob. I watched it as it was 600th on They SHoot Pictures, Don't They's 1000 greatest films of all time. Don't ask why 600, it was partiallly random and partially involved an imperfect dice mechanism.

The Story

The majority of the film takes place in conservative boarding school in America. The film starts oddily enough with a man playing The Fields of Athenry on a bagpipe, I don't really understand why. The pupils in the school are a bunch of up tight freaks, they arrange study groups with each other and seem to enjoy the whole boarding school intense work attitude. However, they have a new teacher this term, a John Keating (Robin Williams). He proves to be somewhat against the grain of the school from the start. On his very first meeting with the boys he walks into the clas room, says "Come on" and walks straight on out again. His ethos centres around the latin phrase Carpe Diem meaning 'Seize the moment'. He is a lover of poetry and of free thinking and tries to induce the art of life into the pupils. Several of them take this on board and after discovering that when Keating was at the school he was a member of the secret Dead Poet's Society they form a similar group. The boys then start to evolve and come out of their shells. They start to think for themselves and do what they want, ignoring authority figures such as teachers and parents. This all leads to tragedy, heart-break and over dramatic nonsense.

My Opinion

I was really disappointed with this film. I found the boys really unrealistic. They're attitudes were so fake, and I don't think the film spent enough time building up the apparently strong relationships within the film. Throughout the film the shy Todd seemed very much a loner and disinterested in Neil but nearing the end he is apparently one of his best friends.Neils reaction to getting a part in the play was really stupid. He pranced about like a fairy overjoyed and everyone reacted like they were part of the Waltons family. I mean they were in a boarding school surely someone would have laughed at him and called him a fag. Even they're loyalty to Mr.Keating seemed phoney. Here they are a bunch of uptight, workaholic toffs who do nothing with their spare time but voluntary study and all of a sudden they are enraptured with a teacher who although very charming a man with great ideas isn't actually teaching them half the stuff on their cirriculum. Another thing that annoyed me was that the characters weren't easily distinguishable except for the ginger one. They all had the same hair cut and same sort of look and clothes and I think their lack of identity as individuals within the film until near the end really highlighted their inability to act. Robin Williams was by far the best character to watch and he had hardly any screen time. Relative to the annoying boys his screen time was minuscule.

I don't understand how this film won Best Screen play as it was unrealistic and just really irritating. I wouldn;t recommend this film. You could see what the film was going for but they just didn't seem to spend enough time developing the relationships that are apparently so strong by the end. The ending itself is cringe worthy and disappointingly incoherent with what the films plot would have allowed rather than what the writer wanted. On the plus side it was a film in a boarding school that wasn't about rape, there's a relief.

Main Cast

Mr. Keating - Robin Williams
Todd - Ethan Hawke (_Before the Devil Knows Your Dead_, Great Expectations.)
Neil - Robert Sean Leonard (Dr. James Wilson in House)

Certificate
PG

Film Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ7GIVCmnUA

Price
I bought it for £2.50 and it is on sale on Amazon from £3.50. I wish I had my money back and wouldn't recommed buying it at all. It had no DVD extras