What we stay alive for

Rating: 10/10 (4 July 2020)

The film stars the late Robin Williams, which is already a treat, as Mr. Keating - with charm of comedy and with, his dialogue exercises love for poetry and, more importantly, life itself. Using the unorthodox teaching methods to make his students think for themselves, exploring the whole concept of "Carpe Diem" and focusing on different viewpoints for every poem or even everyday situation, that's just a part what Mr. Keating managed to do in short span of about 2 hour runtime but those ideas stick in your mind.
One of the main characters, a student named Neil Perry, who was played by Robert Sean Leonard, is an academic prodigy but he also dreams of pursuing acting. Unfortunately, his parents disagree with this decision and would rather force him to seize the opportunity they'd given their son to become a doctor. Neil, deciding to seize the day, still pursues his dreams and after a successful play, where he emerged as a young rising talent, he is brought down to the ground by his parent who instead only feel disappointment for his sons disobeying actions. Neil, feeling like he was just a dog, whose only purpose is in life was to follow his parents will like a dog, decides to end it right there and ends his life. No doubt, this was the saddest moment of the movie. His father might be happy because Robert Sean Leonard, who portrayed Neil, ended up being a doctor in a hit TV series "House" 15 years later but his strict behavior without any freedom of his choices for his son just cost him a son. The key underlying theme, following this movie, was to make your own choices. Poetry can't be measured with math, creativity can't be bred in a strict classroom and you'll never think for yourself if you just follow other people's will.
"Things in life ain't always quite what they seem / There's more than one given angle to any one given scene / So bear that in mind next time you try to intervene / On any one given angle, on any one given scene" - I think this short little verse from "Angles", performed by Scroobious Pip, can sum up the movie quite well - Mr. Nolan, the headmaster of the fine institution, blames Mr. Keating for the death of Neil while in reality Mr. Keating is the one who opened Neil's eyes. Todd, who underwent the biggest character transformation in the movie, is also a good example for that verse since he started out as a shy kid who didn't believe he had any talent or courage but display them both in fascinating manner when his poetic genius slipped out of his conscience for a brief moment during exercise with Mr. Keating or when he stood his "ground" at the finale of the movie.