On 2010-07-24 Zachary Koenig, Fergus Falls, MN wrote: Sometimes a film can become cliched due to sheer overexposure. Since Dead Poets Society came out in 1989, it has been used in nearly every English classroom in the United States at least once, I believe. As a result, it suffers from severe overexposure to the general public. However, as a viewer watching the film for the first time, I was not privy to the cliches, and thus enjoyed it very much.
For a basic plot summary, the film focuses on a prestigous East Coast preperatory school. The students at said school have their entire future planned out, and are under intense pressure to succeed. Introduced to this atmosphere is new professor John Keating (Robin Williams), whose teachign philosophy in equal parts rankles the traditional faculty, inspires his students, and forever changes the landscape of the institution.
This movie is groundbreaking in its portrayal of the teacher-student relationship. However, the true genius of the filmmaking is that the issues are presetned in shades of grey, not black and white. Many situation are incredibly complex and have no concrete ´correct answers´, but this film valiantly tackles them anyway. It doens´t shy away from reality, and for that I am thankful, as too many films these days over-simplify real-life situations, leading to watered-down scenarios.
In terms of casting, Dead Poets Society is a cut above the rest. Williams is tremendous as the inspirational instructor, who isn´t too over-the-top, but also injects the requiste amount of passion into the role. Both the professors and students at the prep school are alos spot-on in their characterizations.
Thus, I highly recommend this film to anyone who hasn´t yet had the pleasure. It may be highly cliched these days, but that is only because it has been around for so long. It truly is an amazing film that hsould only get better with time.. And summed up by saying Only Cliched Now Because It Is Such A Classic. Currently Dead Poets Society has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
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