The History Boys
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.64 You Save: $11.34 (76%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.93 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The History Boys
Movie Review: Electric
Summary: 5 Stars
The History Boys is inspired and electric and yet at the same time it's absolutely true to life. It also tells a memorable story about 8 British school boys learning, in each case, how to become an individual, how to become a self. The scene where Frances de la Tour either clairvoyantly sees the boys' futures (or is in fact having a clairvoyant dream) is also very powerful, with the mesmerizing Posner talking both satirically and wisely about becoming a teacher and, in the process, following the mantra of the school's most iconoclastic teacher: "Pass it on." When Frances de la Tour then goes to sit next to Lockwood and announces that he was killed by friendly fire when he was 28, it's an incredibly eerie moment since Lockwood doesn't give any evidence of having heard her. Looks, in fact, already dead. The collection of pseudo medals he wears all through the movie's narrative (and which I earlier took to be post-Punk decorations) then makes sense in terms of his "destiny." The other thing that really struck me in this particular scene was the fact that the also mesmerizing Dakin (so clever and original while he was a grammar school boy) had become a tax lawyer. Sad, but again true to life, since the students who are utterly at home and filled with life and exuberant ideas in high school so often seem to make compromises in their adult lives. The actor who plays Scripps (Jamie Parker?) has a mainly reactive role in which he listens to, watches, and comments on the lives of the others---one of the most difficult kinds of roles to play---was subtle and amazing. I've seen this brilliant movie 3 times by now and found it to be absolutely original and extraordinary every time.
www.elisabeth-harvor.com
Movie Review: Talky but brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a brilliant piece of work, especially if you love ideas and language, and even more especially if you love history. It's 1983 in Yorkshire and one lucky grammar school (the equivalent of a U.S. high school) has eight very bright but not very privileged boys who have passed their A-Levels and are up for consideration for Oxford and Cambridge. The Headmaster is delighted, of course; think of the glory the school can accrue from this. The boys themselves are a bit more unsure about it, some of them really only wanting to please their parents. There are two teachers, "Tot" and "Hector," with very different styles, but the Headmaster doesn't think they're sufficient to get the boys ready, so he brings in a supposed recent Oxford grad himself, to "polish them up." And there's the plot. But the story is much, much deeper than that, as you would expect from Alan Bennett. Hector, beautifully played by Richard Griffiths, is an aging, gay, devotee of literature who rides a motorcycle, who is, in many ways, the central figure of the story. Hector loves poetry and literature, and he understands them -- and, most important, he can explain them to his students. Balancing him is Irwin, the hired gun, is very different in urging his students to play to their own strengths in order to "work the system." The dialogue is brilliant, snappy, witty, and energetic at the same time. The interactions among the characters -- all of whom played their roles at the National Theatre as well as in the film -- are both playful and thoughtful. And you'll even learn some history and literature.Movie Review: Peculiarly British, With Universal Application
Summary: 5 Stars
Its 1983, and the students and faculty at a Northern England grammar (academic) school are ecstatic over their A-Level (college entrance exam)results. A group of young guys have done well enough that now they can not only aspire to university, they are actually in the running for Oxford and Cambridge. This is a rare event for this particular school, and extraordinary steps have to be taken.
The candidates are put through an intensive extra study session with two history teachers. One of the teachers is a veteran, the other young and newly recruited. The training consists of debates, critical readings, and above all writing as the teachers push the candidates to new scholarship levels. The boys themselves are determined to succeed, but they're also teenagers, with all the social, cultural, and sexual complications that involves. And the two teachers themselves have their own issues, leading to some behavior which is morally and legally reprehensible.
The Northern England accents can be a bit difficult for non-British viewers to follow, and the organization of the British educational system seems far more complex than necessary, but nevertheless I, a history teacher in an American high school, was able to recognize many common elements and traits, and to feel the same pride for these history boys that I do when my own students do well. And while I can't say I found the out of class behavior of the two teachers admirable or even acceptable, I could understand their dedication to their profession and to their pupils' success.
Movie Review: Excellent film--but let's clarify something
Summary: 5 Stars
I've watched this film twice and enjoyed every minute of it and the finely tuned performances. Still, I feel compelled to respond to the reviewer here from England. Your review is well written and astute--until you get to slamming Dead Poets Society. To be blunt, you don't seem to grasp the reality of that milieu any more than the Americans who don't "get" History Boys. DPS presents a very accurate depiction of the claustrophobic environment at an all-boys boarding prep school in the East in that period of American history. The film accurately depicts the obsession with control and tradition at snobby, East-Coast prep schools and the teenagers' rebellious, atavistic response. It is NOT a Hollywood fabrication. We have a suicide at the end and the loss of the boys' only inspiring teacher--made a scapegoat by the administration and parents: if you think that only happens in Hollywood, you're sadly mistaken. Also, while I like History Boys a great deal, Weir has crafted a much more artistic work in DPS; it has a beautiful, at times haunting, aesthetic. The druidic scenes in the woods alone are worth the price of admission. And it may be a vehicle for Williams but even he is real, the inveterate performer loved by the students but resented by his colleauges. At the end he too is nothing but a victim of the school's warped value system and inabilty to progress. Two fine films--very different--each capturing a moment in history and both doing an excellent and entertaining job of it.Movie Review: Hardly a real school but.......
Summary: 5 Stars
While "The History Boys" cannot be said to be anything like a typical classroom--it is still an fascinating literary journey. I am a school teacher by trade and should be appalled by the disconnect between this film and the students I see every day. But for some reason I am not. There is something in all of us, put there by the likes of Goodbye, Mr. Chips, The Dead Poets Society and other films, that wants cinematic depictions of any school life to be larger than life. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that everyday school life IS larger in many ways than anything that exists in the public consciousness.
While I have had students every bit as witty and fascinating as the "boys" I certainly have never had 8 or more at one time. But enough said. Richard Griffiths and Stephen Campbel Moore as the two competing educational philosophers at the center of Nicholas Hytner's film verson of Alan Bennett's stage play make for a great intellectual slugfest. And Frances de la Tour as the one female colleague in the film is a wonder unto herself. Dominic Cooper and Samuel Barnett as two of the central student characters are worthy of attention for themselves. Never again will "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" be just another song for me!
Alas, I am a hopeless fan of the writing of Alan Bennett and he has never been, in my estimation, any better than he is in this production. Enjoy, Enjoy.