I wish I had seen this movie sooner.

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2010)

I could agree with Roger Ebert had I not watched the movie from a completely different view point. For me, the movie works as an insight into a few boys life at Welton in 1959. First of all that year excites me, they were on the cusp of revolution and perhaps a few could predict what would happen a year later but the mini revolution that was started at the school, the daring concept of character over tradition, was something that would change those boys lives. In good ways, in bad ways but ultimately it would be a test of their characters in BIG ways.
The story starts off with a new teacher. Robin Williams plays the passionate John Keating. He wants to teach the boys poetry ..not lines, but poetry in their souls. It is that spirit of such poetry and the spirit of carpe diem (seize the day) that is lit like a candle in some boys and a fire in others; Neil, Todd, Charlie, Knox, Meeks and Pitts as well as a few other of their classmates.
Neil (Robert Sean Leonard pre, pre House) is a star pupil who wants to act, Todd (Ethan Hawke) is the new shy boy, Charlie (Gale Hansen) makes the boys laugh and us audience laugh and swoon, Knox (Josh Charles) is the one who dares to woo a girl he meets at a formal dinner, Meeks is the sweet boy and he and Pitts are scientifically both challenged and inspired.
Mr Keating tells them to rip out anything that restricts their thinking. Poetry should be FELT. After all, we each have poetry in us and we each apply it in different ways. Not everyone actually reads and writes poetry, some spend hours trying to find a solution to a problem. That is what the movie is about to me, the spirit of that poetry and I feel it could have alienated people had it been more about the poetry, instead it doesn't pay "lip service" to poets and poems, but it gets right down to their core; which is their spirit.
And I would have done what they did in their cave meetings too, which is basically have fun.
My only minor "problem" with the movie lies in what Keating says- despite not being a scientist myself, I believe science can also be a source of beauty, poetry and something to stay alive for also. But I'm taking Mr Keating too literally and I'm sure Meeks and Pitts who were the scientists would have remembered what Mr Keating said and applied passion to science.
The tragedy of the movie lies in the most passionate and proactive personality in the movie, the one whose Mr Keating's teachings light a fire inside. It is even more tragic given the year..perhaps ten years later, what happens would not have happened, one has to wonder.
There have been those who find that storyline unrealistic and yet it is realistic, in that it happens. It's also a cautionary tales to parents who want to live through their children, I can even see similarities in this movie and Mahabharat which is a big epic in India based on fact.
For me it took time to understand the character involved the storyline, because the movie is not a sit down let's talk type, it doesn't give you the answers, it doesn't underestimate the audience, it's an old school movie. I will say no more other than I think this character wanted to seize the passion.
And like life, things and people in Dead Poets Society are always moving, the movie relies on you as an audience to pay attention and you might, just might, catch something that you missed before or that the person next to you missed. Poetry isn't going to make your life neat and tidy nor is it going to change your life, that is up to you. Mr Keating didn't come along with an in depth character analysis and the movie is dynamic, it has kinetic energy, when you see Welton, you see see different angled shots in the corridors, in class rooms, outside you see nature, there's music, on paper it sounds like any other movie but on screen Dead Poets Society is alive. Mr Keating represents the movie..and we represent the students. He COULD change our lives..if we keep ourselves open to what he says. That's how I like to watch this movie.
And the final scene was not trite nor sweet to me, nor a kiss up, it was a final straw for a a living, breathing, sad, perhaps angry and inspired soul of a student AND a boy. A sweet ending wouldn't have any of that because it would tie things up and not leave them open. But like life Dead Poets Society isn't a carefully arranged neat little present. It's only neatness lies in how its made, a beautiful quality of a movie, I don't know the technical terms but I can say the cinematography and the direction are not slow, or too fast, when Keating is talking you see his words in each of the students faces, their reactions. Peter Weir the director has links between his movies, action and reaction and every person taking charge of their life, you watch Gallipoli, The Truman Show and Master and Commander, it's about human spirit. The final scene of Dead Poets Society is about human spirit, don't conform, take charge of your life and make a stand for what you believe in. The power of that scene can be applied to a grand action or a small one, but it's something I remember whenever I am forced to cower, with the rest of the world as Mr Nolans- the headmaster of Welton, trying to get me to their way or to be quiet. Except I watched the movie and I won't.