The performances make this film!

Rating: 9/10 (12 April 2002)

Even if this movie DOES border on the melodramatic at times, the moving and exceptional performances by all involved certainly earn it merit. Robin Williams, (in an unusually controlled role), plays John Keating, an English teacher, who returns to his former prep school, breathing life into an otherwise stoic and dull English course. Encouraging his pupils to "seize the day", he stirs them to look beyond the confinements of whom they are told they should be, to that which they could and truly wish to become. Thriving under Keating's tutelage are Neil Perry (exceptionally well portrayed by Leonard), who discovers a passion for acting, and, as my friend Laura puts it, "the painfully shy", Todd Hamilton (Ethan Hawke could not have been better as the agonizing Todd). Conflicts arise however, when school officials and parents disagree with these new attitudes and work ethics, and strive to dimiss them. Albeit a tad slow in parts, stick with this film to end. The last scene is worth the wait.