Carpe Diem – seize the day. Take what life gives you and fly; don’t waste a second. This is the mantra of the coming-of-age drama, Dead Poets Society. The movie was directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman, both of whom are renowned for their works in film. It starred Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke. It was released on June 2nd, 1989.  

Dead Poets Society follows a group of boys in a high-class prep school, Welton Academy. The school is well known for its traditional values, never straying from its beliefs. This all changes, however, when a new English teacher gets hired. John Keating’s idea of teaching is eccentric to the school – the man believes the boys should learn to find themselves, not to be conformed into a being that doesn’t suit them. This leads to the boys becoming more outgoing and artistic, something that wouldn’t typically happen in this school. 

In my opinion, Dead Poets Society is a wonderful story in theory. However, I did find the message to be diluted by the sheer amount of time it took for the plot to truly begin. The movie is around two hours, but nothing important happened until the hour and a half mark. This was, however, offset by the skill of the actors – each played their part beautifully, creating a realistic feel of the movie. Furthermore, the visuals did their purpose well. The mood set wasn’t dark, per se, but it was dimmed to a point. The way the film was shot captured this to a tee. 

After I finished watching the movie, it left me feeling a bit disappointed. Many people play the film as one of the best things they had ever watched, but I didn’t feel that way at all. Even so, I would most certainly recommend this movie to others, even if I wasn’t a fan of it myself. The theme is extremely relevant, if a bit overdone. The actors were amazing and the visuals were just as stunning. I’d rate this movie a 7/10, not bad but not stellar.