Dead Poets Society (1989)

…………………………………………………………..

Dead Poets Society Movie Review

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke. It is a solid, but mostly disappointing movie.

…………………………………………………………..

“No matter what anybody tells you,

words and ideas can change the world“

…………………………………………………………..

It is about an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry. What I liked here is that the movie took a serious dark turn near the end with one major death. That was emotionally powerful and I really respected its portrayal of bad parents and how they want something specific for their children when schools are concerned and they don’t care what their child really wants. That is an important issue well explored here.

But what I didn’t like is how the movie totally wasted Robin Williams. He is absolutely phenomenal here and what he did with his looks was astonishing and you could easily see strong emotion just in his eyes. He is the movie’s brightest spot both as an actor and as a character and it is such a shame that the film abandoned him for the boys. I was immensely disappointed because of that.

But all of the other actors did a good job and it is such a shame that only Ethan Hawke made a career out of this movie when in reality all of these young actors gave really respectable performances. And the characters themselves are solid, if not entirely realistic.

…………………………………………………………..

Dead Poets Society is definitely well made and also well shot and scored, but the editing could have been better and the direction from Peter Weir is not my cup of tea. The film is basically made as a typical Oscar bait with all of the aspects that define an Oscar nominated or winning movie such an important issues and themes, good acting, typically bloated running time and an emphasis on strongly emotional ending. And yes, I strongly disliked that ending which was just so cheesy in a typical manner for the decade. The emotion was somewhat earned, but I still don’t like when they emphasize the happy ending this strongly. Overall, the film is solid, but it only earned the Best Actor nod with the other three nominations being totally undeserved.