I picked up this movie in the local DVD library after watching the review on the CNN IBN news channel (which btw is a very good channel).
There’s this program in which the host(not a hot ’’fake accent’’ girl) talks about new movies and also recommends some old movies. And he happened to talk about ’’Dead Poet’s Society’’. That it’s one of the few movies in which Robbin Williams plays a serious role.
It’s about these 17 year old students who are put in a ’’strict disciplined’’ school. Robin Williams (Keating) joins them new as their English(literature) teacher.
And he goes on to make a great impression among the students. He gets them out the ’’just finish school become a doctor/engineer and become rich’’ mundane life. He tells them that life is not about medicine and engineering: those are just to aid life. That life is about passion, love, beauty and romance. That is what one has to actually live for. That was my crappy version of it :)). Here are the real lines:
John Keating: ’’We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, ’’O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?’’ Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be? ’’
And one of the students (Neil) is passionate about acting. But his father hates acting (calls it ’stupid play business’). N eil gets a part in one of the plays in school and is terrified to tell his father about it. His father finds out and tells him that he has made a lot of sacrifices to get his son into this school and he doesn’t want him to ruin his life by ’acting’. Nei l acts anyway and his father gets furious and tells him that he cannot go to that school anymore and the he would from now on go to a 10 year military school in order to become a doctor. And N eil is devastated. And it turns out pretty tragic.
Well I don’t wanna kill the story but all the scenes are pretty dramatic. And inspiring.
John Keating plays an amazing role. He was nominated for best actor. The movie got 4 nominations. And won ’’best screenplay’’.
Also about the Dead Poet’s Society: which is basically a group John Keating was in, when he was young. They used to get together and read poems. This one from David Thoreau being the one that starts the meeting:
[Quoting Henry David Thoreau]
I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life... to put to rout all that was not life; and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Simply put : Great movie!
(Btw the name ’’Neil’’ is illegal in mouthshut. So I had to spell it as ’’Ne il’’ or ’’Nei l or (Neil)’’.When I tried to submit with the word ’’Neil’’ it said I cannot submit it.
:-/ Apparently it’s a bad word.)