Dead Poets Society represents is a significant measuring stick of different actors’ careers because it demonstrates the early promise of Robert Sean Leonard (who went on to House M.D.), Josh Charles (The Good Wife), and Ethan Hawke and it’s one of the better films of Robin Williams’ career when he was still acting and not just adlibbing. On top of that, Dead Poets Society is the quintessential inspirational teach film, with Robin Williams portraying the teacher every wishes they had and who doubtlessly inspired quite a few people to pursue that passion themselves. This is one of Robin Williams’s finest moments and that there’s such a great cast for him to play off of, young though they may be, takes a good script and turns it into an entertaining and touching film that stands the test of time.
The students of the boys prep school Welton Academy have never had a teacher like Mr. Keating (Williams) ever before. That’s because Welton Academy hasn’t either, thanks in large part to its rich New England heritage of discipline and higher learning which for the longest time has meant boys in class by day and studying by night. Keating’s influence upon his English class (which includes Leondard, Charles, and Hawke) drives them all to explore the creative side of themselves. Key to this exploration is the boys’ late night poetry readings in a cave on the academy’s property where their appreciation of verse and the great writers grows. Of them all, the repressed Neil (Leonard) begins to open up the most and in a risky move forges his father’s signature to try out for the school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an activity his father (Kurtwood Smith) disdains. Keating quickly becomes the boys’ favorite teacher, but he runs up against his fellow faculty and the parents who expect a more rigid course of studies with his plan to create a generation of free thinkers.
Dead Poets Society isn’t without its flaws, especially when you sit back and start thinking about the story and how none of it makes any sense assuming Keating had to interview for his teaching position at an all-boys school. Did they forget to ask him about his teaching style? Or better yet, did all of the people who gave him references forget to mention that he was a more free-form educator who didn’t teach in according to traditional means? How did he get hired at that school? A man’s connections mean little if what he has to offer isn’t what the school wants. Yes, it kicks off an emotionally charged examination of education as a means to impart knowledge versus a means to inspire a love of learning, but again the pretext makes all the difference. In the end, the excellent performances make it all easy to overlook, and without a talented cast both in the adults and the younger crowd, Dead Poets Society would never have worked.
Few films are as good the first time you see them as when you revisit them 10 years down the road, but Dead Poets Society has a depth based in its character growth and story that makes it timeless. For as long as education and the many approaches to it are important issues in society, the message of Dead Poets Society will hold true. Hopefully, that will be forever.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
For anyone who grew up with Dead Poets Society and has watched the child actors grow into careers in film and television, the retrospective featurette with Hawke, Leonard, and others looking back on the film and its lasting effects on culture and their careers, is the best thing on the disc save for the main feature. Some of that retrospective gets rehashed in the audio commentary with Director Peter Weir (who’s also in the featurette), Cinematographer John Seale, Screenwriter Tom Schulman who won an Oscar for Dead Poets Society. Finally, deleted footage, and two production featurettes (on the film’s signature warm lighting and its sound with Supervising Sound Editor Alan Splet, David Lynch and Peter Weir) round out the set.
"Dead Poets Society" is on sale January 17, 2012 and is rated PG. Drama. Directed by Peter Weir. Written by Tom Schulman. Starring Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Robert Sean Leonard, Robin Williams.
