The poets are not dead.

Rating: 9/10 (11 August 2006)

After having seen some of Peter Weirs other films(The Plumber,The Cars that ate Paris,The Green Card.)i decide to watch this.I have to say i feel this is one of his best films,thats a very strong character-driven film. The plot: In the 50s,new student Tood Anderson is sent to the same school where his brother did fantastically.While he is trying to play things down about his brother,he starts getting on with people at the school and gets a friend(Neil.)The thing that changes them is the new English teacher Mr Keating,who Tells them they should "be themselves" and not "act like sheep".Tood and Neil find out that Mr Keating used to be in a club called The Dead Poets society.After hearing about this,Tood and Neil decide to re-open the club to get themselves "Free",this will sadly end with one of them tacking there own life.... View on the film: The screenplay:written by Tom Schulman,while the film has a bit of a thin plot,Schulman makes the film feel like a really great European-type character driven film.The other things that is done very well is the change halfway into the film,where it takes on a very dark turn.While most movies would find it hard to change gears like that,this movie does it really well. The cast:The cast do a really good job at making the people feel very real.You can feel Williams moving away from his (very good)comedies,to giving really great performances for dramas.But,the main stand outs are Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leondas as Tood and Neil.They both give really great performances that make you feel they really are friends,and that when Neil dies,Hawke does a great job at showing the sadness he has,for losing a friend in such a sad way. Direction:Peter Weire does a fantastic job,at showing how the film (over the films time-line)changes.From something that looks really picture-perfect,that could be from an old faded photo album,to some very dark and disturbing images.(With very strong religious overtones-aseptically in the suicide scene.)But Weire always makes sure that the characters are the centre piece of the film.The other thing Weir did great and was very different (at the time) for getting a really good,serious performance out of Robin Williams. Final view on the film: A really great character-driven film,with a great cast,direction and a very moving story.