# Dead Poets Society (1989)

### reviewed by
John Carroll

Dead Poets Society, starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles and Gale Hansen. Directed by Peter Weir. 1989.

    Reviewed by John Carroll.

The "hero" movie is very common among movie buffs, however, most of these films are only about sappy and cheap sentimental value. However, the "hero" films that tend to stand out are the ones made to perfection. Rocky and Rudy are two fine examples, and one more to add to such a prestigious list is Dead Poets Society, in which a group of boys become men throughout the trials and tribulations and school. Terrific performances are turned in by such a young cast and Robin Williams once again adds his unique sense of humor and drama to this film.

With the teen drama so burnt out these days following catrastrophes like Drive Me Crazy and Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Dead Poets Society stands out like The Blair Witch Project among the summer blockbusters. The actors are all mainly young and in their first big screen roles, and all turn in terrific performance. With Robin Williams starring, the movie should obviously flow around him, yet it does not. Williams starts the film off strong, but then gives it off to Hawke, Leonard, Charles and Hansen, just to name a few.

This young cast should not have been expected to do much, but even so, they go above and beyond the line of duty. Such an emotional film calls for believable acting, among other things, otherwise, it just looks like another sentimental piece of trash. The two main roles for the youngsters are those of Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke). The two play opposite ends of the rainbow, with Perry acting as the opportunistic student turned actor and Anderson playing the pessimistic youngster who wants to let everything out, but turns back to the old way of doing things. However, the Dead Poets Society that is formed by the boys turn out the real people beneath. They truly enact the theme of the film to "Seize the Day," otherwise known as Carpe Diem.

The rest of the cast is terrific, and perhaps the best performance of them all, comes from Gale Hansen who provides a stunning sense of humor to a film that may have suffered without it. Despite being such a meaningful film, Hansen is able to portray the sense of youth among all of the boys becuase despite the true intentions of the film, the setting is still in a high school.

Dead Poets Society also proves why Peter Weir always tends to deliver in his films. After seeing The Truman Show, I personally did not think Weir could outdo that performance, and he comes oh-so-close with Dead Poets Society. He consistently delivers in his films, ranging from uniqueness with The Truman Show to thrilling us with Witness to putting everything into perspective with Dead Poets Society. Weir exemplifies good cinema and Dead Poets Society is a definite for even the mildest of Weir fans.

Boiling down, Dead Poets Society finishes up strong. As the film progresses, the ending becomes pretty predictable, yet Weir is able to concentrate on the effects it has on the characters, not the actual event. This once again enforces the whole point of the film, instead of trying to play off a sentimental finale.

Dead Poets Society ranks high up on a must-see list, and for very good reason. It provides all different aspects of entertainment and is very hard to find one bad point with it. When you finish viewing Dead Poets Society, only one thought should be left in your head:

                                           Carpe Diem.

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