Dead Poets Society adds little to the genre that hasn't been said before and aims, instead, at familiar stereotypes and overly obvious tugs at the heartstrings.
Granted, Keating is a wonderful teacher--smart, kind, dedicated, clever, innovative, understanding, and generally too good to be true. "How can you stand being here?" asks one of his students, Neil Perry. "Because I love teaching," responds Keating. "I don't want to be anywhere else." Yet in his well-meaning sincerity, he sets some of his impressionable young students off on collision courses, and he even advises one of them to try to reason with a demanding parent (Kurtwood Smith), to disastrous effect.
The young actors are more convincing in their roles than many such people we see in the movies--Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman--and they're ably supported by consummate pros Kurtwood Smith and Norman Lloyd. But none of them can compete with a screenplay that luxuriates in clichés and ends in a melodramatic incident meant purely to manipulate our emotions.
However, while almost nothing in the last half of "Dead Poets Society" rings true, it's all so sincerely presented that most viewers will gladly suspend their disbelief and go along with it; not a few will even shed a tear. If it works for you, go for it.
Video:
Most everything about the picture quality is good news. The Buena Vista video engineers maintain most the film's 1.85:1 theatrical-release dimensions to easily fill out a 16x9 widescreen TV, and they use a relatively high bit rate in the transfer to maintain most of the film's burnished gold colors. On the minus side, there is a small bit of grain present, a slight softness to the image, and a somewhat dark tone at times, making faces appear a bit too pink. Yet some outdoor scenes come off as clean and clear as high definition. Go figure.
Audio:
The English and French soundtracks are rendered via Dolby Digital 5.1, but although they work well in serving the movie, they are hardly the most impressive things to show off an audio system. Since most of the movie is dialogue driven, it doesn't make a lot of difference that the front stereo spread is only average or that the rear channels are used hardly at all. There is little need for deep bass, but the high end comes off with sparkle, and the midrange is natural and well balanced. This is a soundtrack that serves the needs of the script, not a home-theater system.
Extras:
As this is a special edition, BV have provided more than the mere chapter search they included on their first DVD issue. First up is an impressive audio commentary by director Peter Weir, cinematographer John Seale, and writer Tom Schulman. In it, the director is far more thoughtful and insightful than we generally hear from a filmmaker. This is not another "Well, here are the opening credits" sort of commentary but one that honestly tries to go beneath the surface of things. Next is a newly made, twenty-six-minute retrospective, "Dead Poets: A Look Back," which includes reminiscences, mostly about director Weir, from many of the actors who played the boys in the movie, plus actors Norman Lloyd and Kurtwood Smith. Oddly, it does not include Robin Williams. Then, there is a four-minute sequence of "Raw Takes," unedited clips deleted from the final picture; and two featurettes, "Master of Sound: Alan Splet," eleven minutes, and "Cinematography Master Class," a fourteen-minute excerpt with John Seale, produced for the Australian Television and Radio School.
The extras wrap up with ten scene selections, a paltry number for so popular a film; a chapter insert; a fullscreen theatrical trailer; Sneak Peeks at two other titles from Buena Vista, "Flightplan" and "Annapolis"; English and French spoken languages; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
One must give director Weir, screenwriter Shulman, and star Robin Williams credit for their earnestness in trying to produce a meaningful, elevating motion picture, and the degree to which they succeed can only be measured by an audience's willingness to accept a certain amount of hokum in the process. Most viewers over the years have seemed perfectly inclined to go along with the overstatement and sentimentality. I could only handle it for the first few minutes of the show; then, it got to be a long, drawn-out affair reiterating the same points for an unnecessarily long time, ending in an overemotional outburst.
Yeah, I know: Carp, carp, carp goes the critic for diems at a time. So be it.
The young actors are more convincing in their roles than many such people we see in the movies--Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles, Gale Hansen, Dylan Kussman--and they're ably supported by consummate pros Kurtwood Smith and Norman Lloyd. But none of them can compete with a screenplay that luxuriates in clichés and ends in a melodramatic incident meant purely to manipulate our emotions.
However, while almost nothing in the last half of "Dead Poets Society" rings true, it's all so sincerely presented that most viewers will gladly suspend their disbelief and go along with it; not a few will even shed a tear. If it works for you, go for it.
Video:
Most everything about the picture quality is good news. The Buena Vista video engineers maintain most the film's 1.85:1 theatrical-release dimensions to easily fill out a 16x9 widescreen TV, and they use a relatively high bit rate in the transfer to maintain most of the film's burnished gold colors. On the minus side, there is a small bit of grain present, a slight softness to the image, and a somewhat dark tone at times, making faces appear a bit too pink. Yet some outdoor scenes come off as clean and clear as high definition. Go figure.
Audio:
The English and French soundtracks are rendered via Dolby Digital 5.1, but although they work well in serving the movie, they are hardly the most impressive things to show off an audio system. Since most of the movie is dialogue driven, it doesn't make a lot of difference that the front stereo spread is only average or that the rear channels are used hardly at all. There is little need for deep bass, but the high end comes off with sparkle, and the midrange is natural and well balanced. This is a soundtrack that serves the needs of the script, not a home-theater system.
Extras:
As this is a special edition, BV have provided more than the mere chapter search they included on their first DVD issue. First up is an impressive audio commentary by director Peter Weir, cinematographer John Seale, and writer Tom Schulman. In it, the director is far more thoughtful and insightful than we generally hear from a filmmaker. This is not another "Well, here are the opening credits" sort of commentary but one that honestly tries to go beneath the surface of things. Next is a newly made, twenty-six-minute retrospective, "Dead Poets: A Look Back," which includes reminiscences, mostly about director Weir, from many of the actors who played the boys in the movie, plus actors Norman Lloyd and Kurtwood Smith. Oddly, it does not include Robin Williams. Then, there is a four-minute sequence of "Raw Takes," unedited clips deleted from the final picture; and two featurettes, "Master of Sound: Alan Splet," eleven minutes, and "Cinematography Master Class," a fourteen-minute excerpt with John Seale, produced for the Australian Television and Radio School.
The extras wrap up with ten scene selections, a paltry number for so popular a film; a chapter insert; a fullscreen theatrical trailer; Sneak Peeks at two other titles from Buena Vista, "Flightplan" and "Annapolis"; English and French spoken languages; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
Parting Shots:
One must give director Weir, screenwriter Shulman, and star Robin Williams credit for their earnestness in trying to produce a meaningful, elevating motion picture, and the degree to which they succeed can only be measured by an audience's willingness to accept a certain amount of hokum in the process. Most viewers over the years have seemed perfectly inclined to go along with the overstatement and sentimentality. I could only handle it for the first few minutes of the show; then, it got to be a long, drawn-out affair reiterating the same points for an unnecessarily long time, ending in an overemotional outburst.
Yeah, I know: Carp, carp, carp goes the critic for diems at a time. So be it.
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