Carpe diem...

Rating: 9/10 (18 February 2005)

A film that continually defies expectation, whether it is through the plot, characterizations, or performances of the actors. While you may not end up where you expected to, you are ultimately glad you went along for the ride.
It's 1959, and at Weldon Academy, tradition is everything. Weldon, however, is about to be shaken up by the arrival of John Keating (Robin Williams in an unusual dramatic turn), who encourages his students to look at things with new eyes. Among those who take his message most to heart are Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard), son of an overbearing and unpleasant father (the truly evil Kurtwood Smith), and his roommate, Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke), ignored younger brother of a previous Weldon valedictorian. While the students who form the "Dead Poets Society" have good intentions, participation in the group leads to Neil's defiance of his father, which in turn leads to tragedy. Todd has mostly been an observer throughout this, but the loss of one of the few people who cared about him, and the potential loss of another finally bring him out of his shell, and allow him to take his first stand.
This is an interesting script, in that it leads you to believe you're going to have a happy ending, and then snatches that ending away so quickly you hardly know what has happened. Before you can catch your breath, a suicide has occurred, the surviving parents are hounding the school, teachers and students are turning against each other, and the truth is buried under expediency, leaving the viewer wondering what was being taught in prep schools in the 1950's. In the end, Keating is used as a scapegoat to appease the anguished father, but the film leaves one more lesson to be taught before Keating leaves Weldon forever. Unfortunately, several plot points introduced prior to the suicide are simply dropped after it, leaving the viewer wondering what happened to the budding romance of one of the students and a town girl, as well as a few other things that just get left rather than addressed.
The setting of the prep school works rather well in this film, making it almost a world unto itself. The stone buildings represent the unchanging tradition valued so highly at Weldon. Nothing moves the stone; nothing changes the school. This further emphasizes the gulf between the students and the rest of the world on the occasions in which they enter it.
In spite of the flaws in the script, the performances are uniformly strong. Smith is the epitome of evil, oozing malice out of every pore in every scene he is in. Unfortunately, this works against him when he loses his son, in that we feel no sympathy for him at all. Williams gives a surprisingly restrained performance as Keating. What comedy there is in this film does not come from him. He plays Keating as a man of passion and integrity, who accepts his fate with grace and class. While Leonard can be a bit cloying, he does an excellent job of portraying Neil, especially the vulnerability which is behind the bravado. The most remarkable performance in the film Hawke's Todd. Not only do you see wonderful character development, but some of Hawke's most expressive acting occurs when he has no dialogue at all. It is through Todd's eyes that we see the end of the film - his upset that one of the Dead Poets Society has turned traitor and gotten another expelled, his disbelief that the others have joined in the persecution of Keating, and his inability to take a stand against that injustice. Most impressive is the scene where Todd watches Keating pack to leave the school, rather than pay attention to class. Todd has no dialogue throughout, yet Hawke's portrayal is so skillful that you see everything he is feeling, and the buildup to his outburst. A truly unforgettable scene.
This is a movie with an unhappy, yet satisfying ending. An injustice has been committed, but it has also been recognized, and perhaps a lesson learned. A thoughtful film, well worth watching repeatedly.