A hymn to life

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2007)

"Dead Poets Society" is more than a lesson of life. It's a hymn to life. It has a good message: "Carpe diem", which means "Seize the day". I completely agree with that message because there's no coming back and time flies.
It's a reasonable movie with an inspiring story, good message, great performances from the actors, wonderful sceneries, awesome soundtrack (classical music, for example), drama and comedy.
John Keating is the kind of teacher that anyone would like to have as a teacher. A teacher with such a colorful imagination and sense of humor, a teacher who inspires his students to make their dreams come true and makes their lives extraordinary. I mean, wow! John Keating is brilliantly performed by the comedian Robin Williams. In general, Robin Williams is as humorous as usual in this movie, but we can also see some of his talent for drama.
Besides this incredible teacher, other great characters are: Neil Perry, Knox Overstreet, Charlie Dalton, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, Todd Anderson and even Richard Cameron (although he has the power to anger us at the end because of his attitude). All of them are very well played by the actors.
About the boys, Charlie Dalton aka "Nuwanda" is the funniest of all. He's just hilarious! "Nuwanda" is such a funny nickname - lol.
Todd Anderson is a shy character portrayed by Ethan Hawke. This actor looked so different when he was younger and his role here is completely different from (for example) "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset".
Mr. Perry (Neil's father) is a complicated character. Like Kurtwood Smith himself says, «he's understandable, not likable». He doesn't let Neil do what he wants and controls all of his life and future.
The ending is somehow... empty: Neil dies and "Nuwanda" is expelled. But the boys's homage to Mr. Keating at the end is admirable. What's even more amazing is that it is started by Todd Anderson.