William Hundert (played by Kevin Kline) combines his passion for the subject of classical literature with principles to make altogether a wonderful teacher at St. Benedict’s School for Boys in early 1970s.
However his steadfast faith in principles is shaken by the arrival of one Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), the pampered son of a Senator. Thus begins a fierce but poignant battle of wills between the student and the teacher. Sedgewick’s defiance of authority and irreverent attitude towards classical literature along with a few other setbacks begin a turmoil in Hundert’s otherwise peaceful world. Senator Bell’s rather callous attitude toward his progeny and his mocking of Hundert’s belief of drawing lessons from Greek and Roman history for inculcating principles to mould his students auguments Hundert’s despondency.
Nonetheless, determined to win Sedgewick’s trust, Hundert (in a queer twist) compromises upon his integrity by beginning to bend a few rules in Bell’s favour. The plot cautiously treads upon the subsequent thawing of student-teacher relationship. However, this is shortlived and soon one compromise starts to beget another, threatening to undermine everything that Hundert had stood for, in his entire life. The result is a lesson for Hundert that haunts him and is brought to a culmination a quarter of a century later in the class reunion. [Any elaboration at this juncture could become a spoiler, so I shall abstain from writing any further :-)]
The movie also features apna Rahul Khanna (of ``Bollywood Hollywood’’ fame) as the prodigious student of the class [don’t we all Indian students excel there in phoren countries ;-)]. In the end, I definitely recommend this movie, specially to families with children in age group of 16 and above.