Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos

... and yet it has grown on me to where it is one of my favorites.

When I first saw this in the theater I felt disappointed and baited and switched. Robin Williams may be top billed, but he is not the center of the film although he is the motivating character. He is a new teacher at an elite private school for boys that has traditions that probably nobody remembers the reasons for. Williams' character is out of step with the rest of the faculty at the school and encourages his students to seize the day. Anyone who grew up with the overbearing-we-expect-more-out-of-you parents, or even attended boarding school, or grew up in some similar environment can identify with the students in the film.

Every aspect of this film is powerful. From screenplay to direction, casting to acting, the movie drags us into a world of teenagers that are REAL. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes rebellious ... sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. This is very much a Peter Weir film. The screenplay is one the most powerful ones ever, and one characteristic of this movie is the evolution the characters go through. Just like Truman Show, Witness, The Last Wave and Fearless, Weir drags his characters into the story and changes them. He evolves them so that, in the end, his characters are more human and feel something beyond traditional beliefs and codes; Things that people have died for throughout history: Freedom, Respect, Pride... things that may not be that important to an average person, things that make one a hero.

There are certain films that get under your skin, never to come out. They change your life, subtly altering your perceptions of reality, almost always for the better.

Dead Poets Society is one of those few films.

I saw the movie back when I was in High School. I had a teacher who told us that we really needed to watch it; in fact, it was our "homework" for the day. We didn't need to bring back a report, or talk about it in class. All he asked from us was to watch it, make up our own mind about it, and that was it. As you can imagine, many friends of mine didn't watch it at all; I did. And yes, I feel I changed a bit from there on.

Back when you are young, you never really stop to think what in the world you are doing with your life. You simply live for the day, hope your grades will be enough to pass, and that's it. Long term thinking involves maybe flirting with a girl. Nothing more. What this film showed me was that we have the responsability and the joy of being alive in this planet. That we are dust, and we will go back to it, so we have precious little time to make a difference. That we have a moral obligation to "seize the day, and make our lives extraordinary" (my favorite quote in all movie history). That the world, basically is ours. That the only limitations are within ourselves, and that we owe it to us to fight, to rebel against conformity, to change what we hate and keep what we love. That living in this world is a beautiful responsability, and that only cowards dare not to change it for the better.

The fact that the cast was basically my age, and was passing through the same dilemmas and situations I was facing made it all so much more powerful.

So here I sit, 12 years from that day. I still don't think I have seized the day completely. But I keep on trying; I always will. I wonder how many people were transformed by this gem of a movie; I hope many.

10 out of 10. A definitive masterpiece.

There's so much good about this movie. The first time I saw it I watched it solely for plot and I loved it. Now I've seen it again and watched Peter Weir's filming and timing which is also great. Robin Williams is a terrific actor when he's serious. He proved it in Good Will Hunting but he proved it first here. If you liked that movie and your liking it had something to do with Williams than you will like this one. The plot is about a number of students who are taught by Williams about life. They are taught how to enjoy themselves. This ends up causing great controversy among the heads of the school. The students are terrific and even the dialogue is great. This is a movie that I can't imagine anyone not liking. It is good in every way.

Dead Poets Scoiety. I suppose if you were in High School sometime between 1990-2008, one of your teachers thought I'd be a good idea to watch this movie and I still remember my reaction and the ones of our fellow classmates: Yeah, probably a boring movie that will try to make the school look better and encourage us to do our homework and study for our tests. I couldn't have been more wrong. This movie definitely changed my way of thinking to a certain extent and there are very few films who have moved and touched me like this one.

The movie plays in 1959 and centers around a private academy somewhere in New England. The curriculum is extremely difficult and the teachers have no humor and are very strict. The new English teacher though, Mr John Keating (Robin Williams), who graduated from the very same school, uses unorthodox, but quite effective methods to teach the students about literature, and poetry. During their first lesson, he tells them that they can either call him Mr. Keating or "Oh Captain, my Captain", based on a quote by Walt Whitman. He encourages them to come out of themselves, use their energy to make their lives worth living and beautiful - Carpe Diem, Seize the Day! The plot also centers around two students: Neil (Robert Sean Leonard), who is funny and popular, but fails to gain his fathers pride, because of his wish to become an actor, and Todd (Ethan Hawke), who is very shy and unsure of himself, and is inspired by Keating to use his imagination and eventually we find out that he is very talented when it comes to poetry. After they find out about a club Keating was a member of while he was a student, the Dead Poets Society, which was forbidden by the school, they decide to reestablish it, what ultimately gets them into a lot of trouble.

There are several key factors, that make this movie as brilliant as it is. First of all there is the acting. Robin Williams, who I really like as a Comedian, really proves that he is a great actor, who can get deep into a character and play him with such passion and energy that you will forget he's an actor. Keating, whose teaching methods are indeed unusual and will probably make you laugh a couple of times, is a very interesting role, the teacher we all would have wanted, but not because he doesn't give homework or makes up very easy, open-book tests. No, because Keating shows us that we have to come out of ourselves, make the best of our lives and especially that there is a poet in everyone of us. Then there is the terribly under-appreciated Robert Sean Leonard, who also gives a very moving performance as a student, who is kept back by his father, and therefore fails to make his dreams come true. In my opinion he is very underused as an actor, and should have gotten a lot more leading roles. As for Ethan Hawke, he definitely was the best choice for the character he plays. We can literally feel his fear and shyness when he stands in front of the class and gets no word out, because he's so embarrassed.

Peter Weir, who is probably most known for his recent movie "Master and Commander" shows what a great director he is with this film and it definitely deserved the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the nominations for Best Picture, Director and Leading Actor for Robin Williams.

Some of you may have heard about Roger Ebert absolutely negative review of this movie and that "he wanted to throw up at the end of the film". I can understand why people might not like the ending (I won't put any spoilers), but I think it just adds to the the beauty and drama of this film, a film that should definitely be on the IMDb Top 250 Movies. This is a movie, you must have seen!!

It was with a sad reason that I re watched Dead Poets Society, as we lose yet another talent and an all round good person in Robin Williams. This being my favorite Williams film, I took it upon myself to honor his memory by remembering his best body of work, in my opinion. Mr. Keating is the teacher that I wish I had, and granted this might be a mixed opinion within the film's context, but the matter of the fact is that he was no ordinary teacher, and that's something you don't see very often.

The thing about this film is that it doesn't shorten its importance to Williams's performance. The supporting cast is one that balances the film like no other. Every one of those students that revived the DPS is, in one way or another, influenced by Mr. Keating, be that positively or, unfortunately, negatively. The story being an Oscar winning screenplay, is one that I think mostly resonates with younger people, and with this movie being part of my 10th grade Portuguese course, I, personally, embraced its essence and of course its driving message of seizing the day.

As I've seen here on IMDb, this movie might not gather nearly uncontested praise, but it is very much highly regarded today as it was 25 years ago. The final scene still gives me chills to this day, and in the midst of our sad goodbye to Mr. Williams I just wanna say Thank You My Captain. It was a pleasure learning to become my own motivated person. May we all Carpe Diem

Rating: 9/10