(Originally written May 18, 2007)

“Sucking all the marrow out of life doesn’t mean choking on the bone.”

I wish that I could recommend this movie to anyone who has to go through today’s education system. I agree with essentially everything it has to say, how education is so rigid and suffocates the ability of students to think for themselves. It is a film that reveals how students are victims of parents who want to impress their own dreams upon their children. This is a film that stresses the importance of passion. I genuinely wish that I could recommend this movie to people, but it is bad—really bad. For all of the life that Robin Williams puts into his role as Mr. Keating and all of the words of wisdom he has to offer, the rest of the film suffers from its cliché storytelling and obvious characters. Each character in the film represents a universal stereotype including the silent type who learns to stand up for himself, the stickler for rules, the heartless father—the list goes on. The film supports individuality, but the trite way in which the film was written suggests the film itself doesn’t reflect its message. The film itself conforms to the feel good Hollywood norms. Indeed, the film has its moments—when Charlie punches Richard in the face for being so uptight and the powerful ending. However, you have to wonder how good Keating feels when the students standing on their desks are the ones who conformed, leading to his being fired. I support much of what the film has to say, but if I judged a movie on its message, The Birth of a Nation would be awful, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner would be a great movie. It is a shame because I was expecting so much from director Peter Weir, who made The Truman Show, one of the most imaginative and beautiful movies of its kind.