In the 80’s boom of 50’s set nostalgia films there was more than a few that were set inside the prestige and apt for coming of age tale location of the exclusive prepatory school, however none of these films had the genuine sincerity and truth at the heart of it that Weir’s 1989 drama classic Dead Poets Society had. There is all the fun and joy and nostalgia of those films, just with an abundance of warmth, truth, reality and pathos to bring home it’s tragic finale.
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It’s the sort of movie where you then feel a rush to watch the rest of those in it’s ilk, like a School Ties (which I actually like a fair bit), only for you to immediately realise in contrast to what level Dead Poets surpasses them all. It has been said by those involved in this production, especially the younger performers that life imitated art with Weir becoming a figure not unlike the inspirational teacher John Keating that propels this tale of an ensemble of students coming of age having their greatest ambitions seen for the first time by Keating. Weir tells his tale with such a sublime, efficient and deft handle on emotion, sentimentality and realism that the film’s ultimate finale cannot help but floor any viewer. But above all I find that it’s the realism that gives this films its very specific success and lustre. Tom Schulman’s Oscar winning original screenplay began with many other facets to it, however was eventually stripped down to what we ultimately received, with some scenes even being shot and later deleted. This is a blissfully taut film, despite actually being over 2 hours, it’s feels incredibly swift and always compelling. For as much as its tragic finale is the thing that I think most clearly takes this film to another level of drama and pathos, it does still as I have already said have all the tropes and classic joyous elements of a coming of age prep school nostalgia work, of course for as much this makes the first half of the film enjoyable, it obviously only works to make the second half even more tragic and impactful. Schulman’s script is a really terrific piece of writing; compelling, consistent and incredibly well handled when it comes to the spread of genres this film takes on, whilst also being at its core a great work about the power of teaching itself.
My love of Sondheim’s philosphies on teaching and my own
experiences with some incredible people in my life of course make this a film
that will always have an impact, my artistic life too also makes me see
elements of myself not only in Ethan Hawke’s Todd and his literary aspirations,
but of course also in Robert Sean Leonard’s Neil’s acting pursuits. It helps of
course that both Hawke and Leonard are sublime, with Gale Hansen as Charlie
Dalton also always being a firm favourite performance amongst the younger men.
But the joy of the film of course is with its ensemble nature there is someone
to see yourself in no matter what, even with Josh Charles character and his
burgeoning love, even if those scenes overall can at times grind the film to a
halt for stretches, I personally don’t fall them awful despite some of their
indefensible nature, but they just are nowhere near the standard of the rest of
the film. The film of course also boats… Well, the late, great Robin Williams.
Williams takes this film to a whole other level. I sincerely feel that many
others could have played the role of Keating and much of the drama would be
there and much even of the inspiration, but I feel that beyond Williams, there
is nobody else who could have played this role as well as he did. No actor
could ever have conveyed the beauty, warmth and power of the figure of Keating
like Williams could. It’s a knowing performance in that sense I feel, for as we
all know of the man it seems we can only know that above all else he did indeed
want to bring happiness. It’s easy to pontificate on those who have passed in
the world of pop culture, but this does feel like a case where the concept of
Williams as a truly affectionate performer does lead to the performance to be
even more stellar. A beautiful life-affirming film that can defy even the coldest
heart to break just a little. It’s not the greatest coming of age of the 80’s,
that comes later in this list, but it’s certainly up there. Actually for me, I
feel this movie taps into a more poetic (pardon the pun) insight into
transcendence from adolescence into adulthood, never looking away from all of
the terrible pain that can come in this transition. And when we are taken on this journey by none
other than the angel that is Robin Williams, led by a sublime Weir, we find
ourselves with a truly majestic and powerful film.
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