a true band geek festival

Rating: Null/10 (1 July 1999)

I was still in high school when "Mr. Holland's Opus" came out, and it was immediately popular with the "band geek" crowd. A band geek is someone who has made all their friends through band, dated exclusively through band, and generally loves band. Nerdy, yeah, it is, and I was one of that crowd. But we sure had fun. That fun is displayed nicely in Opus, through Richard Dreyfuss's career as a high school band teacher. My friends particularily enjoyed the scenes that depicted the common, everyday tribulations in the band room: learning how to hold your instrument, much less play it, staggering backwards in muted agony after that first unison note.
Near the end, the music program at Glen Holland's school is put into jeopardy. This is, unfortunately, a sad fact that happens ALL too often in our schools. Dreyfuss has a line to the effect of, you'll cut band but I guarantee you'll never cut football. My former high school struggled with that very same vicious arts vs. athletics debate not too long ago. It seems sports are always paramount to creativity. But that is a discussion, not a review. Anyway, the subplot involving Glen Holland and his student, Rowena Morgan--the musical star, is uncomfortable because that too can happen in real life. Although student and teacher thankfully do NOT have a relationship in Opus, this problem is latent and real in our society. We do not hear about it all that much, but honestly, one occurance is one too many. The movie does a good job of letting the viewer realize what is going on, yet doesn't subject us to anything further. Lastly, Richard Dreyfuss is commendable as the aging music teacher, who goes from young and unwilling to teach to silver-haired and fighting to stay in the classroom. The make up effects here are wholly believable and Dreyfuss's performance is one of the most realistic depictions of a high school music teacher.