Sociedade dos Poetas Mortos

So today is August 12th and news has broken of Robin Williams' untimely death. I just felt compelled to review my favourite movie of his. On a rainy day back in 1980- something, my mother sat my brother, sister and me down and put on the movie, Dead Poets Society. Little did I know what a profound impact that movie, and its characters would have on me. The film is bursting with quotable material, and my siblings and I quote it to this day: O Captain My Captain, Carpe Diem, Seize the Day, and of course, Make Your Lives Extraordinary. It's not until we grow older that we can look back on a teacher like John Keating and see what he really meant to us, the chances he made us take, the way he made us feel alive. I look back now on Robin Williams' performance and see one of the most flawless performances of all time. When you watch the movie, it's hard to think of hammy, manic Robin Williams giving such a nuanced and subtle performance. It's almost as though Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting is who John Keating became. And funny how his most subtle performances may be the ones he's most remembered for. When I heard the news of Robin's death, I was taken back to this film and really felt how integral this movie actually was to my childhood. I think it was the first time my 10 year old self was truly "moved" in the way that adults can be moved by art. All I can say is watch this movie. You won't be sorry.

Personal Rating: 9/10

This movie shattered me. There's the expression that something "tugs at your heartstrings," well this movie ripped mine out.

I'll be honest, I could find things to critique about this film, the instance of a scene that was used twice and felt sloppy perhaps; but this movie never claimed to be perfect, just to be emotionally moving, and that it certainly is. This review is written by a boy who also finds himself on the edge of adolescence and adulthood, does that mean I'm biased, absolutely, but everyone who watches this film is, everyone can relate. Your feelings I can assure you will be the same as mine when the credits start rolling, rolling like the tears down your cheeks.

This movie makes you think. Conformity is easy, conformity is comfortable, conformity gets you good grades, trust me you're listening right now to a past perfect GPA teacher's pet. The thing conformity doesn't give you though, is a life, one worth living. For something to be beautiful it must also have a side of danger, and that's what freedom of thought is, as is mentioned in the movie "we must constantly look at things in a different way," and that's beautiful! Yes, it means at times we don't agree, yes it means you might give this movie a 4/10 but I'll be damned if that changes my opinion of it.

The themes this movie explores such as, never letting a moment slip by where you don't think for yourself, where you don't seize an opportunity, it does so beautifully. Robin Williams was not acting he was believing, everything in this movie comes across as genuine, a slice of reality, a harsh but beautiful one at that.

Will I watch this movie again, I don't think so. But please, please watch it just once, you won't ever regret it.

Carpe Diem.

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

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.

... 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.