BEFORE: Say what you will about Robin Williams, the guy's got range. In the last week I've seen him play a boyish man, a mannish boy, a writer, a sailor, a preacher, and now a teacher.
THE PLOT: English professor John Keating inspires his students to a love of poetry and to seize the day.
AFTER: This was a good transition - both the preacher and teacher roles showed Williams' character using unusual methods to make his points, from a position of some authority.
Though the film never explicitly states the year in which the film is set, the IMDB suggests 1959. Makes sense, since there are some early rock songs played in the background, along with some essays that resemble beat poetry. This was also a time when sons were expected to be subservient to their fathers, and gender segregatin and corporal punishment (paddling) were commonplace in prep schools. Just try to get away with that today.
Professor Keating (Williams) expands his English students' minds, showing them that poetry is best analyzed on a basis of feeling, not meter and rhyme. Also performing Shakespeare for them in a host of voices, from Marlon Brando to John Wayne.
Essentially, it's a coming of age story, as each of the teen boys deals with a different problem - from being attracted to girls, to fear of public speaking, to raging against authority. One teen wants to take up acting, against his father's demands that he go to medical school, but he persists in playing Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", causing his father to have a meltdown and send him to military school.
NITPICK POINT: Why send his son to military school if he wants him to become a doctor - does he want him to become an army medic? Because that doesn't sound as safe as being a G.P. Anyway, the kid goes about telling his father about his burgeoning acting career all wrong. He should have pointed out that acting experience would benefit a doctor - since he'd have to act concerned (or perhaps blase) about the medical conditions of his patients.
Then, he should have temporarily dropped the acting, gone to medical school, and intentionally wash out. That way he could tell his father that he tried to be a doctor, and fall back on the acting. Geez, it's Parent Psychology 101! Besides, doctors aren't so great - mine told me to take a pill every 6 hours, then suggested I get a good night's sleep, which I presume to be 8 hours. Well, doc, which is it? Thanks for the conundrum...
What I'm trying to say is that all of our experiences in high-school, and our first few McJobs, can all come in handy down the road. I acted in a bunch of school plays and local theater productions when I was a teen, and while I haven't made a career out of it, I've done enough voice acting for animated films that I appreciate those early theater days. (I always seemed to play the authoritative character, like Sitting Bull in "Annie Get Your Gun", or Sen. Bullmoose in "Li'l Abner", or the town mayor in "Bye Bye Birdie". Good times...)
I also worked in a retail warehouse for a few years - giving me skills that come in handy when it's time to move merchandise around at Comic-Con. And I worked a year or two in a movie theater, and today I deal with theaters and film festivals around the world. So I always say learn whatever you can at any job, it could be very relevant later on.
However, there's another side to the coin - telling teens that they can do whatever they want with their lives could be seen as a recipe for disappointment, as another teacher mentions in the film. Allowing kids to believe in an unattainable goal doesn't necessarily benefit them in the long run. Just a thought.
Also starring Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke (last seen in "New York, I Love You"), Josh Charles (last seen in "The Darwin Awards"), Norman Lloyd (last seen in "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle"), and Kurtwood Smith (last seen in "Going Berserk"), with a cameo from Melora Walters.
RATING: 5 out of 10 study group sessions
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