Seize The Moment

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2006)

*Dead SPOILERS' Society* It's the '50s, and young Todd (Ethan Hawke) is sent to Welton Academy, a prestigious (and very strict) boarding school for boys, where he is expected to learn and become a good student like his brother before him.
This year, things are going to be a little different, because there is a new English Teacher, a former student, John Keating (Robin Williams), who bases his lessons on the students, more than on the books, and on making them conscious of their condition of young men, of their fears and desires, and teaching them the ability to deal with the facts of life, however painful they may be.
And painful they get, when Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), Todd's roommate, kills himself to avoid being sent to military school, sending Todd, and the rest of the 'Dead Poets' Society', a secret group Neil, Todd and a few others were part of, into deep grief and leading to Keating's firing.
But the lesson has been learned; carpe diem, seize the moment, and think for yourself, because no one's going to do it for you.
Somebody avoids this movie (without having watched it) thinking it's 'schmaltzy', 'boring', but they are wrong; they should just watch it and THEN judge.
Besides, it's not schmaltzy, nor boring; it's powerful and intense, an uplifting story, despite the sadness in it.
Everybody should watch this.
Dead Poets' Society: 9/10