Robin Williams tells students to "seize the day"

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2013)

Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Norman Lloyd, and Alexandra Powers star in "Dead Poets Society," a 1989 film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman.
William plays an English teacher, John Keating, who comes back to his alma mater, an exclusive boys school, to teach. His teaching technique is very different from anyone else's. His focus is on encouraging students to find themselves by reading and writing poetry, to be individuals, and to know their own hearts, to see the world in a unique way, and to take risks - "carpe diem." One of the students finds Keating's old yearbook and learns he was part of something called The Dead Poets Society.
When he's asked about it, Keating says that he and some of his fellow students met in a cave and read poetry. Neil (Leonard) and his friends Todd (Hawke), Knox (Josh Charles), Gale (Charlie Dalton) and others form the club again, find the cave, and sneak out at night. They read, laugh, and joke.
The boys are inspired by Keating and, in their own lives, try to break out. Each has his own story but the main focus is Neil, whose dictatorial father is insisting that he become a doctor when in his heart, he wants to be an actor.
Unfortunately, the school doesn't exactly want students to think for themselves and neither do their parents. Problems arise due to Keating's unorthodox teaching methods and opening these kids' minds.
What a beautiful movie and what great imagery of birds flying free, the boys standing on their school desks and seeing the room from a different perspective, that idea of being "up high" used when Neil late at night looks out the window of his home.
The film is predictable, but that doesn't make it any less powerful. It's set in 1959, and yes, kids did what their parents told them to do, and if your parents didn't like your choice of career, you were discouraged from going into it. I know someone who wanted to have a career in the army; his parents flew to Germany to see him. The young man returned, became an attorney, and was never a good one, nor a very happy person. Someone else I know actually got a part on Broadway and her parents made her return to her home town. Yes, that kind of thing happened. If you're creative like Neil, you can't really suppress it - the soul cries out for something else.
Robert Sean Leonard, Wilson on "House" is very young here. He gives a marvelous performance. I've seen him on Broadway twice - he's a very serious and committed actor. Everyone is good in this well-cast film. Robin Williams absolutely shines as a warm, funny man who loves to teach and who believes teaching goes way beyond just the subject. He's just fantastic.
For me, anyway, there weren't a lot of surprises in this film, but I loved it. It was both uplifting and depressing - the school wants the students to meet the status quo, and Keating wanted them to fly. Today, it's still not easy being different.