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There are lots of
movies about youth.
Most of them
demonstrate the
easy, carefree,
essence of it with
crass humor or
vanity. Others take
miniscule issues and
blow them out of
proportion and make
films about them.
The only movie I’ve
ever seen that
accurately portrayed
it was
Dead
Poet’s Society.
Some of it’s over
the top and inserted
in for dramatic
effect, but most of
it is accurate and
spot-on.
Dead
Poets
Society is about the
excitement and
fragility of youth
and it’s about time
being of the
essence.
Dead
Poets Society
takes place in the
50’s at Welton
Academy, one of the
most prestigious
prep schools in the
country. There
aren’t very many
more things that
come to mind as
being stricter than
a prestigious prep
school in the
1950’s. The guard
gets a major change
however when John
Keating gets the job
of the school’s new
English professor.
Keating, a former
alumnus, installs
new ideas in his
pupils; passion,
art, creativity, and
thinking for
yourself. What he’s
teaching that
doesn’t fall in with
Welton’s academy and
that’s the main
source of turmoil in
the story.
As much as this film
stars Robin Williams
it’s more about the
young minds he molds
at the school. We
get four or five
different stories in
the film. There’s
Todd Anderson (Ethan
Hawke) the shy kid
whose family history
follows him
everywhere. There’s
Neil Perry, whose
father is
controlling to an
absurd amount.
There’s Charlie
Dalton who’s not
exactly bright but
manages to lead
where others follow.
Then there’s Knox
Overstreet who’s a
hopeless romantic.
These four kids and
a couple of others
in the class develop
a strong respect for
Keating and his
teachings and reform
the
Dead
Poets Society,
a club where they
meet in the woods
Friday nights to
talk about life and
read poetry. Life’s
never perfect though
and it wouldn’t be
the great movie that
it is without a
strong amount of
drama, and yes… does
Dead
Poets Society
delivers.
‘Robin Williams’
performance in the
film paved the way
for his decade of
work after it. Sure
he played his silly
comedy roles after
this movie, but he
also did a strong
amount of drama
through the 90’s. It
was his performance
in Dead Poet’s
Society that got
people to notice
that he could do
this. Williams’
performance is
inspiring but all of
the young actors in
this movie- looking
at who was in it and
looking at what they
were able to
accomplish later in
their careers is
pretty cool. Ethan
Hawke went on to do
lots of great films.
Robert Sean Leonard
has been on
House
since it started.
And Josh Charles has
been in lots of
great movies over
the years too.
The acting’s great
but Peter Weir’s
film is amazing.
Have you ever
watched a movie and
thought that certain
shots, certain
moments in the film
with no dialogue
went on too long and
just wasted time
without setting up
anything? That
doesn’t happen with
Weir’s movie
Dead
Poets Society.
There isn’t 20 to 30
second moments of
nothing going on the
screen… there’s
always drama and
always something
going on. That and
the pacing, his
camera shots, his
peaks, his valleys,
everything with
Weir’s direction of
Dead Poet’s society
is amazing.
This movie’s getting
its first release on
Blu-ray and it’s
getting a good
amount of
supplemental
materials to go
along with the
tremendous movie.
There’s a 30 minute
feature that talks
about making the
film with a few of
the different
actors. Then there’s
a feature on the
sound and a couple
of other things that
aren’t half bad.
It’s not an amazing
amount, but for a
release like this
it’s more than
enough.
Dead Poets Society
is a terrific film
and this Blu-ray
release does it a
lot of respect.
There are lots of
movies about youth
but not very many
treat it with this
type of seriousness
and give it an open
interpretation.
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