Oh Captain my captain
By Paul Birch
Peter Weir had a great 1980s. This could be the understatement of the year. In the same decade he made Gallipoli, The year of living dangerously, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, and a little film called Dead Poets Society. That’s not a bad run, and few would have thought that Dead Poets would be the film that would define him. When you look at the film, and his resume, you can see why he was tailor-made to make this. A mixture of seasoned actors, and young up and comers…check. A dramatic tale that can only be told in the way someone like Weir can tell… check. Surrounding yourself with experts in nearly every field…absolutely check.
Back to the film though.
Set in 1959, Dead Poets Society is a simple story. There is really not much that happens. I mean at all. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, far from it. We get to live with the students in the fictional boarding school. We breath the air they breath, and by the end we cry the same tears. The film starts with the beginning of a school term. Parents fuss over students, with the slightest hint of the stresses that lie ahead. The soundtrack is only bagpipes. We all know the epic soundtrack by Maurice Jarre, but music is surprisingly lacking. The first small background track doesn’t even come into play until the 18th minute. When that music does come in though, it blows you away. Back to the film though.
We first meet Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard) and Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke) as respective parents are laying out the ground rules for the year ahead. Todd, quiet and shy, Neil, outgoing and dramatic. They instantly bond as new roommates, with Todd bringing him into the crowd of young scholars. The group itself all manage to be different enough, with a lot of work being done outside of the script. Peter Weir is well known to let his actors improvise and change things. One of the most poignant moments at the end was not in the original script (will come to that later) and he will let the camera role after a take is finished just to see what will happen.
One of the best moments in the film is when Neil and Todd are talking alone. It is Todds birthday, and the only present he has been given is the same present his parents gave him the year before. The original script had a very different, overly emotional conversation. The genius of Peter though, is that he lets his actors change things. Todd would never be that emotional, it is not how the character works. PEter Weir agreed with this, and the scene was changed to what we see now and the present being thrown from the roof.
As great as the young stars are (Josh Charles, Dylan Kussman et al) it I Robin Williams who absolutely steals every scene magnificently. Nowadays we hear how it was such a brave choice, but if you look at his cinematography, you’ll see he was made for this. Good Morning Vietnam and The World according to Garp are both hilarious yet dramatic. Robin Williams has this skill, a skill skill that almost no one else on the planet has ever had, to make anything funny. The infamous wife farting monologue in Goodwill Hunting being the best example.
In Dead Poets Society, Robin is allowed to let loose every now and then, some great impressions and you can see he goes off script a lot. What he does though, is know how to rein himself in. He always has that twinkle in his eye, where you know that anything could happen, but he also has more humanity in a smile than most actors could muster in a lifetime. Interesting fact, Liam Neeson was always first choice to play the role of Mr Keating, only changing when Peter Weir came on board. At one point, Dustin Hoffman was going to star and direct. Both would have worked, but I think we got the right choice in the end.
Back to the film…
There are many different stories going on at the same time, but the main one is about the growth of Todd and Neil. This is a true coming of age story. We see the characters grow and change throughout (the film was shot chronologically which helped us follow the growth)
Neil wants to be an actor, something his father does not. Todd wants to remain silent, something Mr Keating does not want. In these two paths, we see the complete opposite approaches that the elder statesmen make. For Keating he wants freedom, he believes that every person makes there own path. The scene in the classroom where he covers Todd’s eyes and Todd becomes the poet he always has been shows us the type of teacher and parent we always want.
For Neil it is completely different, with consequences that change everyone forever.
I’m not going to say what happens. If you are reading this, then you probably already know, so there’s no need. If you haven’t seen the film, then stop reading, grab a copy and get watching.
Dead Poets Society will always be remembered for the final scene. We think everything is over. Mr Keating has been dismissed, and the students are back to being force fed education instead of absorbing it themselvEethan Hawke really shines as an actor. Defying the teacher, he speaks out loud, telling Mr Keating how much this is not his fault. Ahe calls Oh Captain my Captain and stands ont he desk, the music grows even louder. Other students join in. All standing as Keating looks on, proud of ‘his boys’ and what he has helped them become (interesting fact number 2. One of the characters, Richard Cameron, does not stand on the desk. This was the actors choice, as he did not believe that his character would do this. This makes his character look bad, but is such a genuine touch it makes everything else feel even more real)
A lot more happens, there are other side stories, and I really have not done the film justice. To do that would mean writing a book.
Looking back, the film can be seen as a little cheesy. Which it is. There is no denying it. There’s nothing wrong with that though. Sometimes what we need is something like this.
It truly is an uplifiting film, even though you know that any subsequent scenes would not be positive for anyone involved. It’s also an important film and growing up, and becoming who you want to be, not who you are expected to be.
I’ll end with a Keating quote “No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world”
