Review: Dead Poets Society

3.5/4

This is a wonderful, heartbreaking, enriching film experience. It is extraordinarily inspirational to those of us who are conformists, controlled, not living our own lives. The philosophy portrayed in this film isn't groundbreaking in its novelty, but it is earth-shattering in its might. The film is humanist, romantic, transcendentalist. It tells us to fight for ourselves and what we know to be good, to be brave and do what we need to do to really truly live.
How can one put this into action? Why does it seem so easy now, and so hard when it's called for? Has this movie ever actually changed a life? Do we need a musical score playing in the background of our lives in order to muster up this kind of courage? Do we need a supporting cast to encourage us?
I wish that I could be a part of something like this in true life. I wish that I had the opportunity to fight for truth like this.
The thing that's difficult to accept is that I do have that opportunity. Every day there is some struggle for truth, and I mostly just fail. I stay in my natural state, and no matter whether my natural state is conformist or not, truth-seeking or not, it is not brave, the way I live.
Keep Dead Poets Society in your mind as long as you can. Talk to somebody about it. Watch it with someone. Let them be the support you need for a courageous life. Do what you can to make this a reality and then you'll be able to live the way you need to live.

I do believe in the humanist philosophy celebrated in this film. I am a Christian, and believe in devoting your life to God's will, but I also believe in the value of the human, the beauty and glory of the human. I believe in fulfilling potential, I believe that God gives gifts of all kinds, and that exercising those gifts is a duty unto yourself and that God blesses that. I believe that "Honor your father and mother" is entirely different from "Obey your father and mother". I believe that it is a human need to fulfill ones potential in all areas of life, not just spiritually, and this includes pursuing passions that are separate from the Church. I believe that I have not glorified God if I have not lived the life He granted me to the fullest and with joy and passion. This doesn't expel the concept of discipline, but it expands our common idea of religious freedom.

I am not sure that I believe in all that I said. I will have to think about whether or not God really blesses pursuits other than His own glorification. What were we truly made for? Was it to praise Him, or to praise the world and life He gave us? Are they one in the same?
By indulging in the great glories of life and coming to consciously appreciate the Creator behind it, I think that we are praising Him in the process. To pursue a passion instilled on ones heart is to take hold of God's gift, to glorify Him, and not to waste what He has given us.

As far as the movie goes, it is wonderfully-made. It is a bit dated, a bit corny, but finely acted and directed. The spirit behind the film is obviously what has lasted through the years. It is one of the greater spirits I have seen in all of film. At this age, Dead Poets Society won't change my life, but it may shape my philosophy some. It was nice to see, and to be reminded of what I have missed the last few years. It is something I would show my kids; in fact I would like for every person on the planet to hear this message.