It speaks truth and you feel it. A very special film.

Rating: 10/10 (9 August 2017)

When this film was released (1989) I saw it with my boyfriend and another couple with whom we worked. My boyfriend and the female of the other couple were completely indifferent to 'Dead Poets Society' and scoffed at it whereas the other guy and I glanced at each other but didn't say a word. We'd "felt" something and we knew it.
Yes, I was only 21 but looking back I can now see that this understanding I wordlessly shared with this chap was the first time in my adult life I experienced something akin to what I believe this film does so well. Not only does it encourage young people to not be afraid to live in the moment, to feel, to care, to love because without any of these, life is merely an existence but also to pay heed to what you know in your heart is your own truthful path and it's highly likely to be very different to those of many people around you. And that this is okay.
I love this film. Truly. It has stayed with me ever since that first viewing and has calved out a special niche all of its own; nothing else really compares in many ways. That may sound over the top but for this film, I think it's true. I've seen lots of films since then, of course, but none of them have so easily and effectively raised empathy in me related to the pain and the very human element of hope and desperation we experience in our lives. This film does this so cleanly and with such consideration to how the characters are really feeling at each moment that it doesn't appear you are watching a film at all, more like experiencing what is happening.. And it all seems so.. familiar somehow because it is. Because we've all been teenagers ridden with angst and seemingly insurmountable insecurities inherited from our parent's unhappiness and failings. This film depicts teenagers but adults would do well to watch, learn and remember how to be open again.
Robin Williams was an exceptionally empathetic person and I've always had difficulty watching his "funny" roles when it was so excruciatingly obvious that he was in a lot of pain. Yet when I see him in this film, and you can sense all this unhappiness inside him (Ethan Hawke said the same thing apparently), I like to think that this is actually what Robin did so well. He was a teacher and by way of Peter Weir's personable direction, Robin taught us how to care, to feel and to love. That is, those of us who are able, open and willing to really go to places where real emotions are, where real life is. And in real life, as with Robin, it's not always Disney so you won't be laughing – neither because it's "funny" nor out of "relief".
A very lovely, beautiful and meaningful film. I hope you enjoy it too.