The History Boys
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Movie Reviews of The History Boys
Movie Review: Love it!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is truly a brilliant film, I have not watched the stage version although I have read the play (and screenplay) and the stage version does seem more fleshed out, but that does not mean that the film is 'lousier' in any way. I won't bother with the usual themes of homosexuality, education etc. as I feel that most reviews have already mentioned this. Rather I have been reading a lot of reviews about this film (I love this show) and I thought I'd just share my opinion of some of the problems that others have raised about The History Boys.
One thing raised was the apparent lack of direction in the film. If you're looking for a film that raises questions about education, or homosexuality etc. etc., forget this show. I don't think this is Alan Bennet's objective in writing the film. Unlike, say, Top Girls by Caryl Churchill which she wrote to raise questions about feminism and socialism (just an example), The History Boys isn't so much raising points about controversial issues but experiencing it. This isn't a show with a definite objective, it does not seek to judge but rather, ponder. Something like an intellectual bildungsroman.
Many people were also offended by the apparent nonchalence at Hector's indecent groping. I think to be hung up over this issue is to fail to see what the story is driving at. This isn't really a play about homosexuality. Homosexuality within the context of the film is really just another one of life's problems and issues, not much different from socially disadvantaged boy trying for oxbridge. I don't think the boys were ever 'exploited' by Hector, in fact they seem to have the emotional upperhand over him. They treated his groping of them with disinterest, boredom and an attitude of couldn't somewhat care less distaste.
Apart from Posner I don't think the other characters are truly 'homosexual' in the context of the word. Hector is just plain lusty. Irwin and Dakin are really more pansexual than homosexual. They're attracted to one another because of the chemistry they spark off one another, gender was never really a consideration.
The film though, is set in a rather unbelievable context and has the characters spout lines that you don't hear spoken on a normal basis by normal people, but that shouldn't detract you from enjoying the show. However if you're not the typical anglophile this show may be quite hard to follow due to the multiple cultural references and the wry british wit (the latter of which seems very unappealing to americans, although I can never understand why, slapstick never seemed funny in the least.) I remember reading an article where Samuel Barnett said most of the audience at broadway didn't understand the part about sheffield (when Posner is confiding in Irwin).
Lastly the cast had an excellent chemistry and camaraderie. I'm a bit sorry I never had the chance to watch the stage play with the original cast so it would be nice if the producers release a DVD of the original stage play.
Movie Review: Why wait? You can buy this great DVD right not!
Summary: 5 Stars
I highly recommend the purchase of the BBC presentation available on CD, the screenplay available in paperback, and, especially, the incredible film presentation of this remarkable work.
The film was released on DVD in the UK March 13, 2007, a full month before the anticipated release in the U.S.) and is available for the extremely reasonable price of 14.48-GBP plus 2-GBP air shipping from [...]
The Amazon UK site accepts VISA but not the U.S. Amazon credit card, which is OK. It was three days from order until delivery from the UK to my home in a very rural part of far Northern California. Such speed has typically been the case with orders directly from the BBC and Amazon UK.
*So many* great DVDs and audiobooks from companies such as ISIS and the BBC are available *only* from the UK, that you would do well to check there for the obscure: for example, Tom Sharpe's incredible "Blot on the Landscape" is available in talking book as well as the 320-minute BBC-TV series on DVD. Great bargains are to be had in the used section of listings as well.
One small thing! It's time you give your main DVD player to the kids, and buy the incredibly priced ($50) Philips DVP642:
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I have to admit that I purchased it for $29.95 from another vendor, but if you buy it through Amazon US, you get free shipping and no tax! There is another Philips DVD player out there that is "multi-format," and it is a little cheaper, but stick with the DVP642 because it is *"multi-national" or, rather "multi-regional." Also, there are many sites with firmware upgrades available to get the machine to do all sorts of things by just downloading a driver to a CD-R, placing the CD-R into the DVD642, and then making it truly custom for your needs.
I especially like the DIVX playback capability of the DVD642, because it means I can put a couple of full-length films or tons of shorts on a 1-cent CD-R. DIVX is a great codec.
The main thing, though, is to not be a slave to Region 1, which is what the US is locked into. The DVP642 not only plays *all* regions, but converts any international standard to NTSC, making the need for a PAL-NTSC-SECAM monitor unnecessary.
Think of the ability of playing any DVD made anywhere in the world by spending only $50 (or less) for the player that works with everything from a high-end plasma display all the way to a standard old TV!
Maybe you can wait until the wonderful film "The History Boys" becomes available in the Region 1 format. That's fine; but what about all of that other stuff you want from France, Germany, and the UK? Oh, you don't speak German? Well, that's what the choice of seven+ language captions are for! Everything I've ordered includes English captions, which can be handy if you're watching something from the UK that is so heavily-accented that you can't understand one word: this does happen with the regional stuff made by independent filmmakers, etc.
Movie Review: SCHOOL DAYS
Summary: 5 Stars
I really enjoyed this movie. In an often very amusing way, the movie tells the story of a group of some highly intellectual and brillante (I think they'd be called in America, senior high school students) that want to get unto very prestigious colleges (interestingly one student really does not give a darn if he gets in or not--it's his father's wish; however, that student provides some very funny moments) --I'm really not sure if my aforesaid "American Translation" is correct because the film is about some extremely bright British kids, from, what might be considered, "the wrong side of the tracts" attending a less than top ranking British Grammar School (in America, high school, I think) in the early 1980s that are trying to get into the very prestigious Oxford and Cambridge. More importantly it is a story about their relationships to some rather eccentric teachers (a would be feminist, an eccentric, inclined to grope, teacher that wants the students to do more than "just learn" and a young teacher with a frustrating secret that thinks he has all of the answers to everything. However, he gets some education from one student in particular who has the teacher all "figured out". Plus, a particularly rigid and hysterical head master ) All involved do loads of learning from each other
As I'm sure, everyone on this board knows this film in actuality is a film of the very successful play by the same name. There is no "filling out" of the story for the movie. Granted there are some out of door scenes; however, it is foremost a film of the play with the same actors that were in the play performing the same roles. Therefore, we the audience get to see the same acting "chemistry" that was in the play. The bottom line is that these actors are marvelous in their roles giving superb performances that I'm sure made it so successful on Broadway (I think it won several Tonys and ran for a long time)
Movie Review: One Of The Best Films of 2006
Summary: 5 Stars
"The History Boys" has to be one of the best films of 2006 and one that will endure. In the tradition of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and "Dead Poets Society" it is about eight precocious boys on the cusp of manhood eager to get into Cambridge or Oxford. They are awaking to both learning and sex-- at least some of them-- with members of both sexes. Alan Bennett wrote the screenplay based on his brilliant award-winning play. He used all the actors from the stage production. It is difficult to imagine anyone else in these roles-- should the play be staged in your city-- particularly the eight fine young actors.
There are wonderfully funny scenes in the film but underneath is a sense of sorrow or that the world is a serious, sometimes frightening place. The boys to a person are sympathetic although my favorites in no particular order are Dakin, Posner and Timms. Many of us have had at least one Hector from our school days, not necessarily one who groped his male students, but an eccentric who did everything unorthodox in the classroom and nothing by the book, thereby getting into trouble with pedantic deans or headmasters.
As we would expect from the likes of Mr. Bennett, this film is chockfull of memorable lines. Who can forget Timms' description of Michelangelo as a nancy as evidenced in his sculptures of women since they are actually men with women's breasts--he uses the vernacular-- applied with an ice cream dipper? (Mr. Bennett has used this image before). Then there's Ms. Lintott on the ineptitude of men, causing history to consist of women "following behind with the bucket." Or Professor Hector reminding his students that there is no such thing as general studies. Or his description of learning something from someone else as "if a hand has come out and taken you in." And finally, "take it, feel it and pass it on."
This is a movie you will want to see again and again.
Movie Review: An Unexpected Gem
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently acquired 3 new films, including the History Boys. This was the last of the 3 I chose to view, and it is clear I saved the best for last. I was expected a good movie - but instead I got an excellent movie.
Set in 1983, the film follows the plight of 8 students studying history in an effort to get accepted into Oxford. But what makes the film stand out is the storyline and depth of several characters. For me, that included Hector, their teacher, and Posner, the young student - who somewhat early in the film declares he may be homosexual. His plight plays out throughout the film. Generations apart, I found the story's of Hector and Posner almost identical in nature. In many respects, this was a very sad story, but it rarely left the viewer feeling sad, or feeling sorry for the people.
What should turn people off (a teacher having any type of sexual indiscretions with his students), is instead written, acted and directed so well, one can only feel compassion for the characters. It is truly an amazing feat.
The end result is a film about youth, about growing old, about the future, and about the past. Rolled into well produced movie. Midway through the movie, I knew this was a solid 4 stars in the famous Amazon rating system. But the film closes in such a marvelous, yet unexpected way that I could see no reason not to give it 5 stars. At a few points, the film drags a little slow; but considering recent films that scrap too much film to the cutting room floor, this was was near perfect in length.
Well worth your 112 minutes. The best comparison I could offer is to Dead Poet's Society --- however, I have not seen that in over a decade, so my memory may not be serving me best.