"Dead poets society" and the search for a new way to look at life

¿What's a better way to live our lives than to take advantage of every second we have “suck all the marrow” out of it?

“Dead Poets society” was released in 1989, directed by Peter Weir and very well known because of Robin Williams' performance (professor Keating). It tells the story of a group of students who live in a private academy in New England in the late fifties. Their lives change drastically when an English professor with unconventional teaching methods shows them a new perpective of life, a new way to look at it.

It was a very revolutionary film for its time because it treated “taboo topics” such as suicide and was even criticised by a part of the audience because of it. Nevertheless, the representation of adolecense and the whole cast's performances, as well as the script details concerning story develovment was what turned it into a blockbuster movie and recognized nowaday as a “classic”.

It an amzing representation of how teenage years really are, discovering new passions and having discussions with parents about it: the struggle for freedom to chose about your own life and future, for independance. It teaches the audience how iportant it is, especially at this age, to feel accompanied, understood, heard and supported by family and friends.

The script is beautifully writtend because it allows the audience to dive deep enough into each boy's story to make clear each boy's own personality in order to compare and contrast them. This higlights the effect Keating's lessons have on each and every one of them. It also allows the espectators to relate profundly with the characters and symphatise with them.

The camera angles, ambience and overall aesthetic of the movie are not unintentional, they have a menaing that contributes to the plot and the storytelling. We can appreciate these details, for example, in the season of the year the movie is set in, which shows the sensibility and vulnerability of the characters that still haven't discovered themselves completely.

The whole casts' performances are impecable, transmiting pure and raw emotions even coming from young and unexperienced actors. 

The main aspect than makes this movie unique is its message: “Carpe Diem” (seize the day). It's Keatings most important lesson, ¿What's the point of life if not enjoying it?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

Neil Perry's (Robert Sean Leonard), one of the most interested students in this new teaching method, and Keating's characters make us reflect about the value of life.

These are the reasons why I belive this movie gave my life a 360° spin, made me reconsider all the decisions i've taken in my life about my future ¿Does what I do really make me happy, is it worth it to continue going down this path if it's not my true passion? Since the fist time I saw it, it became my favourite movie and doesn't fail to make me emotional each time I rewatch it. This is why i tell anyone who's reading this that life's too short to waste , which is why we have to make the most of it, Carpe Diem.