A touching movie about the power of music to change lives - even those of the ones who teach it

Rating: 10/10 (2 May 2006)

Opus literally means "work" in Latin. And this affecting tale of a man's life work is one of the best made in recent years.
The movie starts in the fall of 1965 when Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) starts teaching at John F. Kennedy High School (which is in the process of being renamed as he arrives). Mr. Holland was playing keyboards with a band, but has tired of touring and wants time to settle down and write his own music. He finds teaching to not be much to his liking at first. The kids aren't interested, and he doesn't know how to get through to them. In addition, his principal, Mrs. Jacobs (Olympia Dukakis), is always on his back, as is the Vice Principal, Mr. Wolters (William H. Macy). His only friend on the faculty turns out to be the football coach, Bill Meister (Jay Thomas). His complaints to his wife, Iris (Glenne Headley), are met with sympathy at first, but when he learns she is pregnant, he realizes that he needs this job to support his soon to be larger family. At that point, he commits and becomes an excellent teacher, learning how to connect to the kinds of music the kids like and relate it back to the classics he is required to teach. Along the way, he reaches several students: a young clarinet player (Alicia Witt), a football player (Terrence Howard) who learns to play the drums in order to keep his GPA high enough to continue to play - an undertaking done at the request of Meister, a gifted young singer (Jean Louisa Kelly) who longs to make music rather than work in her parents business and who develops a bit of a crush on Mr. Holland. His personal life fares a little less well. His only son, Cole (Nicholas John Renner, Joseph Anderson, or Anthony Natale depending on the age) is born deaf, and he can't share his father's love of music. Or so Mr. Holland thinks, until he realizes his frustration has shut his son out of his life. Once again, he rises to the challenge. However, it is only when the music program is cut from the curriculum, and Mr. Holland is forced to retire that he realizes what his true life's work has been.
It's a brilliant script. Mr. Holland's passion for life - music, his work, his family - is wonderfully depicted, and contrasted against his own limitations in being able to achieve his goals. When faced with his shortcomings, he does something about them, and in the end triumphs because of it. And having his former students come back and show him how he has influenced their lives is an especially nice touch.
The acting is excellent. Dreyfuss is a skilled actor, and he brings a warmth to the part that contrasts nicely with Mr. Holland's less appealing characteristics. Headley gives a sweet performance as a woman who loves her family and stands by them no matter what. The scene where she expresses her frustration at not being able to communicate with her son is especially well done. Thomas puts in a nice turn as the football coach. I'm not a big fan of Macy, but he does pretty well as the vice principal. Dukakis is nothing short of fabulous as the principal who decides to mentor Mr. Holland whether he wants her to or not.
Yes, it's a tear jerker of a movie, especially the ending. But it's well worth the sacrifice of Kleenex, whether it's the first time or the hundred and first. This is a movie that says yes, anyone can make a difference in ways they never dreamed of.