The beginning of the school year at the Welton School for Boys in 1959 is a nervous time for teenager Todd Anderson, away from home for the first time. Todd's new roommate, Neil Perry, is a loose cannon whose overbearing father has his future planned out for him (whether he likes it or not). And the new English teacher, John Keating, appears to be more than just a little eccentric, surprising even the most nonchalant among his students. Neil and his friends find a mention of Keating's own young days at Welton, during which he was part of an unofficial club known as the Dead Poets' Society, a group of students who embraced not only the words, but the underlying passions, of the literary greats. Neil and the others decide to form their own Dead Poets' Society, and Todd is shy and reluctant to participate in either this club or in Keating's class. But Keating's lessons soon inspire the boys beyond his expectations - but when one of them takes his teachings too literally and too far, the effects are devastating for everyone.

A most unexpected vehicle for Robin Williams, Dead Poets' Society stands in my mind as his best performance prior to Good Will Hunting. The younger actors also put in fantastic performances, almost beyond their years of actual experience, especially Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke.

With the benefit of hindsight and a little bit of maturity - when I first saw Dead Poets' Society, I was only a little bit older than the teenage characters in the film, but even then it had a tremendous impact - I think I can offer a little bit of an interpretation of what Dead Poets' Society is about. To some extent, this also ties in a little bit with my ongoing essay on creativity. Dead Poets' Society is an exploration of the different uses that people find for creativity and the arts. Neil embraces his budding acting talents as an escape from his domineering dad, and Knox sees his involvement in the arts as a tool to woo the girl of his dreams. Todd finds talents and feelings he didn't even know he possessed. And still others wouldn't be associating themselves with literature if it wasn't demanded by their teacher.

This almost begs the question...what point, aside from "carpe diem," might this film have been making? Which of the above characters comes closest to being right, if any of them? Arguably, the central character among the students is Todd, because he undergoes the most drastic change of any of the characters. Neil is already rebelling against his father from the earliest scenes of the movie, and Knox seems to be a bundle of hormones from the word go as well. Though everyone suffers a tragic loss at the end, Todd seems to be the most likely to walk away from his experiences having learned something positive about loyalty and the brevity of life. I would even go so far as to argue that Todd and Neil are the most important characters in the movie - Keating serves more as a catalyst, and even he is unaware, until tragedy strikes, how much his students have taken his lessons to heart.

Surprisingly, given the almost anti-emotional surroundings of the boys' school, Dead Poets' Society is a movie brimming with feelings of adolescence and sentiment, driving home one of the main characters' lessons in an unforgettable way: seize the day.

• screenplay by Tom Schulman
• directed by Peter Weir
• music by Maurice Jarre
• Cast: Robin Williams (John Keating), Robert Sean Leonard (Neil Perry), Ethan Hawke (Todd Anderson), Josh Charles (Knox Overstreet), Gale Hansen (Charlie Dalton), Dylan Kussman (Richard Cameron), Allelon Ruggiero (Steven Meeks), James Waterston (Gerard Pitts), Norman Lloyd (Mr. Nolan), Kurtwood Smith (Mr. Perry), Carla Belver (Mrs. Perry), Leon Pownall (McAllister), George Martin (Dr. Hager), Joe Aufiery (Chemistry Teacher), Matt Carey (Hopkins), Kevin Cooney (Joe Danburry), Jane Moore (Mrs. Danburry), Lara Flynn Boyle (Ginny Danburry), Colin Irving (Chet Danburry), Alexandra Powers (Chris Noel), Melora Walters (Gloria), Welker White (Tina), Steve Mathios (Steve), Alan Pottinger (Bubba), Pamela Burrell (Directing Teacher), Allison Hedges (Actor/fairy), Christine D'ercole (Titania), John Cunningham (Mr. Anderson), Debra Mooney (Mrs. Anderson), John Martin Bradley (Bagpipes), Charles Lord (Mr. Dalton), Kurt Leitner (Lester), Richard Stites (Slick), James J. Christy (Spaz), Catherine Soles (Stage Manager), Hoover Sutton (Welton Professor), James Donnell Quinn (Procession Alumnus), Simon Mein (Welton Vicar), Ashton W. Richard (Phys Ed Teacher), Robert Gleason (Father of Spaz), Bill Rowe (Dormitory Porter), Robert J. Zigler III (Beans), Keith Snyder (Russell), Nicholas K. Gilhool (Shroom), Jonas Stiklorius (Jonas), Craig Johnson (Dewey), Chris Hull (Ace), Jason Woody (Woodsie), Sam Stegeman (Sam), Andrew Hill (Senior Student)