If you looking for a movie that has love, inspiration, life lessons and more, then look no further, this movie is the pinnacle. We enter Welton Academy, a private boarding school in the year 1959 and follow the story of young men who are the lucky few to have this opportunity. We soon realize that not all gifts are worth giving when pressure and expectations are set too high.
Mr Keating (Robin Williams) starts by telling us that all of us have dreams and hopes but in the end we are just food for worms, as we will all one day die and fertilize daffodils. This is a great way to bring the students and us watching tumbling down to earth and prepare us for the message of this movie.
*Carpe Diem, seize the day and make your lives extraordinary.**
Mr. Keating, first lesson starts by asking his students to rip out the page that tells them how to enjoy a poem. This begins their adventure with free thinking as he explains the need to use our hearts when reading poetry or live our lives. What one expert out of life or believes in life isn’t the same for us all as we are humans and we are uniquely different. *He also tells them that words and ideas can save the world* . This is currently so true in our world as we forget to use kind words and positive ideas to unite but rather lies and hate to divide. The human race is filled with passion, beauty, romance and love but we forget this and use the opposite ultimately causing hurt and pain.Dead poet’s society teaches that we should suck the marrow out of life each and every day. We should strive to find our own voices and don’t take too long or you may never do so. I am sure we all had that teacher or mentor in life that filled us with inspiration, our own Mr. Keating. Only by giving teachers liberty to connect and open minds will we get more than education at school but become free thinkers and ultimately leaders in our world. We cannot live our life’s for others, we need to live for ourselves, as only then do we stand a chance of happiness.
As parents we need to ensure that we don’t live our life’s through our children as we are often tempted to do so. We give them opportunities we didn’t have and expect them to take them and flourish but they are not us. Don’t be selfish, let them blossom in their own time using their own talents. Listen to them, hear what they want for themselves and let them pursue their dreams.
Be careful, what you can do with your disapproving stares as expressions can kill !!! In the movie we see a father murder his son, not physically but mentally and spiritually. Killing the spirit is the biggest crime of all, often committed by those who love us most.
I had tears in my eyes when Neil (Robert Sean Leonard) takes his own life and you hear the parent’s cries and simply know it’s too late. Let’s allow our children to be children, make mistakes and learn from them while following their dreams. Don’t set unreasonable expectations for them as they are human and not perfect, so love them as they are. Love is a beam of light, don’t stop giving it or only darkness survives.
We are also exposed to a system of Education that stands in the way of learning, this is a serious problem which we should never tolerate. In the movie we see how the school tries to break down values and instead of getting the best out of the young students the worst comes out as they forced to save their own skins.
Most unforgettable part of the movie is when lead by Todd (Ethan Hawke) one by one each student stands on his desk and calls says out “Captain my Captain”. We see the power of those youngsters standing together in unity for what they believe in. The faces say it all and Mr. Keating’s “thank you” is as loud and powerful as the bag pipes that play in the back sound track.
I end this review with a tribute to Robin Williams without doubt one of the greatest actors of all time. More than an actor he was one of the greatest humans of all time. For all the smiles and laughs he brought millions of us, while in his own life he was surrounded by darkness. Few things in life we remember clearly but I remember when and where I was when I heard the news of his death. Rest in peace and I can only pray you bringing laughs and smiles to all the Angels.
