Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Tom Schulman. The film, starring Robin Williams, is set in 1959 at a fictional elite boarding school called Welton Academy, and tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.

Dead Poets Society was produced by Touchstone Pictures and Silver Screen Partners IV and released in the United States by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution on June 2, 1989. The film was a commercial success and received critical acclaim. It grossed $235.9 million worldwide against a $16.4 million budget, and became the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1989. The film received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, as well as a Best Actor nomination for Williams. The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, the César Award for Best Foreign Film and the David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Film. Schulman received the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his work.

In 1959, Todd Anderson begins his junior year of high school at Welton Academy, an Episcopalian all-male preparatory boarding school in Vermont. Todd is assigned one of Welton's top students, Neil Perry, as his roommate, and through Neil, he meets his friends: Knox Overstreet, Richard Cameron, Steven Meeks, Gerard Pitts, and Charlie Dalton.

On the first day of classes, the boys meet their new English teacher, John Keating, a Welton alumnus who studied English Literature at Cambridge. Keating teaches them the Latin expression carpe diem, encouraging them to "seize the day". During his classes, he has the students take turns standing on his desk to demonstrate ways to look at life differently, tells them to rip out the introduction of their poetry books that explains a mathematical formula for rating poetry, and invites them to make up their own style of walking in a courtyard to form their individualism. Keating's unusual methods attract the attention of strict headmaster Gale Nolan.

Upon learning that Keating had been a member of the unofficial Dead Poets Society during his time as a student, Neil restarts the club, and he and his friends sneak off campus to a cave, where they read poetry. Keating's lessons and the conversations in the club encourage them to live their lives on their own terms. Knox pursues Chris Noel, a cheerleader who is dating Chet Danburry, a football player from a local public school, and whose family is friends with his.

Neil discovers his love of acting, and gets the role of Puck in a local production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, despite the disapproval of his authoritarian father, who wants him to attend Harvard for medical school. Keating helps Todd come out of his shell when he takes him through an exercise in self-expression, resulting in his spontaneously composing a poem in front of the class.

Charlie publishes an article in the school newspaper, on behalf of the club, recommending that girls be admitted to Welton. In response, Nolan paddles Charlie, attempting to force him to reveal who else is in the Dead Poets Society, but Charlie remains defiant. Keating gently admonishes Charlie, advising the boys that one must assess all potential consequences of one's actions.

On the eve of the play's opening performance, Neil's father discovers his involvement in the play and demands that he quit immediately. Keating advises Neil to explain to his father that he is passionate about acting. Neil performs in the play, but his father retaliates by telling him he plans to withdraw him from Welton and enroll him in Braden Military School. Lacking any support from his mother and unable to explain his feelings to his father, Neil commits suicide using his father's gun.