I had wanted to watch Dead Poet Society for several years. I’m not sure how it initially got on my radar, but I finally decided to watch it. The film starts out well, I was intrigued by the (simple) premise and was curious how it was going to be built upon but the issue was that it doesn’t really get built upon; just when I thought a new revelation was going to be revealed the film split into 3 separate subplots, that suddenly became the main plot and weren’t satisfactorily concluded.
Maybe I’m fortunate to not be able to empathise with some of the themes portrayed, but then perhaps the themes weren’t conveyed well enough. I didn’t feel like I understood the characters; they all felt very surface level and some of their actions were just baffling. I could only really connect to Robin William’s character, which may only be because he does such a good job at displaying his character’s emotion despite their being only glancing insights into who they are.
<*Alluded to Spoilers*> This film contains a strong message that it delivered well, about how we should feel comfortable to express how we feel, be who we our and celebrate our individual uniqueness. It might be true that the characters are intended to be surface level because they aren’t unique initially and are merely conforming and only through their exposure to the free thinking Robin Williams do they start to find themselves but this is interrupted by a tragedy that threatens to undo Robin William’s good work. Yet in the end (which I thought was done quite well even though I still wish it had been more poignant) they still remember that they have their own wants and they can make their own decisions </*Alluded to Spoilers*>
Enjoyable, inspiring, confusing, disappointing.
Score:
Enjoyment: 6.8/10
Critically: 7.2/10