O Captain My Captain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2005)

About three months ago, this came on TV where I live at about 11.30 on a Saturday night (why it had to be on that late I have no idea). I taped it and watched it the next day and it's the only movie I've recently seen for the first time that really kicked me in the pants. About five days later I immediately bought the DVD. I was that blown away.
SPOILER ALERT!
It's 1959. Rebellious English professor John Keating (a wonderfully restrained, Oscar-nominated performance from Robin Williams, free of his usual quirks which are enjoyable but would be unnecessary here) arrives at Welton Academy, a posh all-boys school with an ages-old curriculum set in stone. Mr. Keating ignores the school's approved teaching methods, much to the dismay of Headmaster Mr. Nolan (Norman Lloyd), and instills in his students a love of poetry, inspiring them to ignore authority and make their lives extraordinary. This backfires when aspiring actor Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) commits suicide after his father (a role tailor-made for Kurtwood Smith, better known now for his identical but comic role as Red Forman in TV's "That '70s Show") forces him to become a doctor. Mr. Keating is blamed for this tragedy, and his remaining students stand up for him when he is threatened to be fired.
Dead Poets Society is a film about rebelling against authority. Mr. Keating is one of the great cinematic school teachers, and if he were real I'd give anything to be in his class. Williams is brilliant, but the real acting honours go to the actors playing the students, especially Leonard (who ironically now plays a doctor in TV's "House") and most notably a young Ethan Hawke, who delivers a tour de force performance as Todd Anderson, the student who is hit the hardest by Neil's death. Tom Schulman's glowing Oscar-winning screenplay is filled with less-than-perfect characters, a dash of much-needed humour, it avoids sentimentality and considering I often *hate* poetry, it makes the stuff seem interesting.
However, it is Australian director Peter Weir's (who makes me, a budding filmmaker myself, proud to be an Australian) masterful handling of two key scenes late in the film which catapults it way beyond average status. The first is Neil Perry's suicide scene. Neil and his father have an argument one night after his father discovers Neil acting in a stage play. His father holds the power in the conversation and orders Neil to follow a career in medicine. Later on when his parents are asleep, Neil walks into his father's study, opens a drawer in the desk, takes out his father's revolver pistol and pulls the trigger. Weir wisely splashes this scene with dull and depressing colours (blacks and whites) to suit the mood described in Schulman's script, but instead of actually showing Neil pulling the trigger, Weir cuts away to Mr. Perry laying in his bed being awoken by the chilling sound of a gunshot downstairs. This makes my hair stand on end every time I watch the film.
The second is the exceptional climax. Now that Mr. Keating has been held responsible for Neil's death, he has been fired and interrupts his former class (now taught by Mr. Nolan) to get his things before he leaves. Todd Anderson causes an outburst and sticks up for Mr. Keating by standing on his desk and shouting "O CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN!" like Mr. Keating instructed his students. Soon half the class joins in, with Mr. Nolan shouting at them to all sit down. The class giving Mr. Keating a standing ovation shows how much one person can impact others' lives, either positively or negatively. In this case, Mr. Keating has given his students direction and a reason to live. It surely stands alongside One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back as one of the most unforgettable movie climaxes ever. Damn you, Oliver Stone.
END OF SPOILERS!
If there are any teenagers like me out there who are reading this review and haven't yet seen this remarkable film, I urge you to do so. It could just change your life.
10/10.
Catch ya!