Movie Review: Dead Poets Society

Ref: Dead Poets Society

I will say right off the bat that I am so in love with this film and I strongly, strongly recommend everyone to go and watch it. A very moving and heart-warming story about love and life and thought, all the makeups of uniqueness and the concept of said theme is so strong and bold that I just keep being reminded of my own goals and my own aspirations for thought and for art.

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I fell in love with the writing; it’s honestly really beautifully written and there are a good handful of quotes that I would love to share with you guys that I found to be very inspirational, beautiful, and so full of substance:

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race… and the human race is filled with passion. Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for”

“...the point of conformity. The difficulty in maintaining your own beliefs in the face of others… you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own… even though… [others may think them to be] odd or unpopular”

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Now onto my thoughts and opinions about the film.

Concept and Perspective

Dead Poet Society teaches a long life lesson in taking the initiative to be different and to think in unique ways (something that I’ve been personally trying to commit to and abide by, with anything in my life). You are essentially forced into strict rules and regulations, terms and conditions to abide by and it keeps you trapped and leveled and you want to continue to maintain that mentality and lifestyle for as long as you’d want to…. But this film and the entire concept and theme that this film is based on, it allows you to look at the same world but in a different way and I see pure beauty in it. You are challenging not just the system around you, but the system that you have restricted yourself to. And at many different points in the film am I constantly reminded of my years taking IB in highschool (best two years of my life and I do not regret them at all). I’ve learned so much during these two years and have especially learned to think about the world from different angles and different perspectives. There are many references to Henry David Thoreau and Robert Forest and other transcendental philosophers and thinkers or as they considered them: Freethinkers. This is something that I constantly strive for, to be different, to be unique, to think differently and separately about the world than others do. To be able to shine in my own spotlight amongst a crowd of people.  

Technicalities and Functioning

There’s a lot of realist techniques used within the film but it allows us to essentially take the perspective of another student in the room. We, as the audience, are given the chance to get close and personal with the characters, absorb their humor and their recklessness and their behavior and I felt like that added so much charm to the intention of the film that allowed me to love it even more. You are given this privilege to see the lives of a group of young men just living their lives and appreciating poetry and art itself. And for sure there were some beautiful shots in the film, but I felt like this kind-of upclose, very personal, intimate (even) space and perspective of the camera in relation to the characters onset, allows us to be even more connected to the sole reason and purpose of the film’s creation.

Content

And I’ve been rambling on about this in combination with the other sections, but I really appreciated and enjoyed the content of this film. Carpe Diem, “seize the day”, a quote that I never thought would make a big impact on my life before this film; A phrase that tells so much about love, about living, and about humanity itself. Carpe Diem! Screams the young lads as they go against systematic thought and put their own creativity and love and fascination of an art first.

The characters are all created with very distinct and different personalities. I won’t spoil it’s magic, but I will say that despite being very different, I believe that these characters are essentially elements of the self. We all have a Knox, Meeks, Todd, Charlie, Cameron, and Neil in us (and some of these different characters overpower the others, but nevertheless we have them all).
[SPOILER ALERT]
I found Neil to be very relatable and in so many ways, he is heartbreakingly relatable (not just through death, as it is commonplace for me to make jokes about my own death LOL). But his fascination in poetry and in learning and studying and his entire fascination with the class and with his teacher, I felt that. I felt that on a personal level. He was so real and so full of substance and magic and I loved that, I loved about that his character. He took what he learned and he made things with it and even though it may not have turned out great, he used his teachings and appreciated them and I’ve never really seen a person or a character that was so relatable in my entire life. Neil was so genuine and so passionate that I really fell for him, he discovered what he loved, he was so into it all and I love seeing that. I love seeing people enjoy what they do.

Charles Dalton, funny guy, he’s my favorite character, despite my love for Neil, I have to say that Charles was the epitome of unique and crazy and out-of-place. He drew his distinction from the class and allowed it to be funny and allowed himself to be different and amazing and spontaneous… and I love him. He did what he thought was right and cared less. He fought the system, he was a badass… Mr. Dalton was an awesome guy. Nuwanda, baby. And at times he may or may not have said or done or behaved in ways that was “morally acceptable” (as a feminist I can nit-pick at a few things) but that didn’t stop me from loving him. All the same, Mr. Dalton was a man of his word and his loyalty was something I wish everyone could strive for.



Let’s give respect and honor to Robin Williams before I begin talking about his character and how he fit the role. You are constantly missed and I shed tears thinking about it all. He did a phenomenal job at his role as John Keating. He showed that passion to us. As the audience, we are given this beautiful sight of a teacher, an amazing teacher, doing what he loves and doing what he wants and enjoying it. We see this genuine passion and love for one’s own life and I thought that was so beautiful and so heartwarming. His character was brilliant and I don’t think that ANYONE else could’ve done the role better than he did.

And now I leave you with a quote from Robert Frost: “Two roads diverged in the wood and I, I took the one less travelled by. And that has made all the difference”.