That Dead Poets Society was a huge hit with both audiences and critics had only so much to do with Tom Schulman‘s Oscar-winning screenplay. The tale of a band of public schoolboys (including Robert Sean Leonard‘s would-be actor, Josh Charles‘ Lothario, and Ethan Hawke‘s shy new boy) who have their horizons broadened by John Keating, an English teacher (Williams), Dead Poets Society excels in its approach to the material. Williams‘ over-playing has ruined many a movie, but here his too-much style suits a man who sees that, for these over-schooled kids, the imagination represents an undiscovered country. The boys also manage to put real meat on the bones of their clichéd characters. Hawke, in particular, brings both humour and real vulnerability to his young outsider Todd. He‘s certainly a lot better than Leonard who seems to have confused playing a boy with stage ambitions with a need to ladle theatricality upon his own performance.
Of course, Dead Poets Society is a tad overwrought at times - the ending, in particular, seems to alienate as many people as it moves. Nevertheless, Weir‘s film wonderfully evokes the magic of someone opening the doors of a new world. It‘s also a devastating reminder of the agony that follows when those doors are slammed shut. Verdict
A film that celebrates the importance of inspiration, albeit in slightly affected fashion.
