I thought this movie was awful. I didn't like Mr. Holland. I didn't like his class. I thought it was all total cheese. Oh, and I hate the song he writes at the end.
But so many people love this movie and think it was a touching story. I don't get it.
Perhaps you needed a teacher who really made an impact on your life or perhaps you needed to be in band or choir and see what an impact a dedicated music teacher or band leader could have.
I grew up in a small town. Choir/music with musicals and music competitions, and band, both symphony and marching band, with its competitions were a big deal for those who participated and also a big deal for the community who supported them. To this day the band regularly competes in state competitions, the choir sends many members to choir competitions, and the community enjoys the annual musical.
I was fortunate to have more than one "Mr. Holland" in band and choir. There was even a short period (a year or two) when we had a "non Mr. Holland" in band so when he was replaced by a "Mr. Holland" type it was even more appreciated!
I loved the movie and have watched it more than once. I thought it demonstrated Mr. Holland's indifference to teaching only to find himself get pulled into it over the years. He gave more and more of himself to his students as the movie went on. He had a profound impact on many students' lives.
The movie is not just Hollywood sentimentalism; it is a cinematic depiction of what happens in schools throughout America that are fortunate enough to have "Mr. Holland" types and of the dedicated music and band teachers that populate those schools.
swlakies,
I grew up in a small town, too. And, though a lot of people who don't take music (band/choir) classes in high-school might think that music teachers are a bit too "high-brow" to stomach, it just isn't true. One day during my band class, our music teacher devoted the entire class to playing recordings of Professor Peter Schickele (aka P.D.Q. Bach) ... proof positive that music does not have to be taken seriously all the time, hehehe.
Until that day, I'd never heard of Schickele or P.D.Q. Bach ... but have since acquired a lot of the music. FWIW, I heard he retired a few years ago. But apparently, rumors of Schickele's retirement have been greatly exaggerated. His website - http://www.schickele.com - mentions a 2005/2006 tour. Still, Schickele wasn't the first classically-trained musician to take "liberties" with the classics. That honor goes to Victor Borge - http://www.kor.dk/borge/borge.htm - who died 6 years ago.
But, a good teacher knows that injecting a little humor into the seriousness of study makes the study more palatable. Perhaps that's why I and others learned so much in his class (sigh).
BTW, my earlier "criticisms" were not of the movie itself. Overall, I think the movie is wonderful ... for the very same reason you mention. It's only the movie's ending that pushes my hot button (grin).
"I'd like to thank my parents for making this night possible - and my children for making it necessary."share
---Victor Borge (his last words to the audiences at many concerts)
um.....why is everyone on here telling their life stories:where you grew up, who inspires you,the heritage of you and your parents etc.
these posts always get so sidetracked.
is anyone on here going to answer the original question?
i liked the movie. it wasnt one of my favorites, but i felt it was kinda touching.
I'm not so sure...
I was fortunate to have a number of outstanding educators in during my days in public education. As noted, I think films on that theme are a fine idea. That said, making a movie on worthy topics or themes doesn't automatically make the movie good. Mr. Holland's Opus, in my mind, was a bad-to-middling movie about a worthy topic.
My problem with the movie is not that I can't appreciate the positive influence a quality teacher can be on his or her pupils. I don't like it because I feel it is poorly written and executed, and for all the reasons I've listed in my earlier posts.
Do you like music? Do you like school? He was an inspiration from both aspects. He was a visionary and he fought hard for the education of children. I LOVED the movie, the music, the acting and the storyline. This man was so passionate about something he thought he could NEVER share with his only child. This movie was such a wonderful inspiration to people who fight for things they believe and hope that oneday they have made a difference in the lives of some poeple. THIS WAS A WONDERFUL MOVIE AND DESERVES UTTER RESPECT AND ADMIRATION.
shareI disliked the film. I've read other peoples reasons for liking it and the accusation that if I don't, I'm somehow a freak. I don't like it.
When the movie came out, I was a music education student. I didn't see Holland as a particularly good or passionate music teacher, even later on in his career. As antoehr posted mentioned, he was not a likable guy.
This was supposed to be some inspirational film, a movie that as a music education student I was supposed to like, but I was not inspired. If anything, I was depressed. So he'd touched that many people's lives and made that much of an impact, and yet his program still couldn't be saved. As another poster more eloquently posted, that ending was not cool, and it was more like celebrating his unemployment.
Unfortunately, I also think this film is true to life because tehre are people like Mr. Holland. But that won't make me think this is a good movie. It's all quite hollow.
To the original poster: You probably don't like Camembert, either.
sharethe movie was ok. it had good points and bad. It was sad that at the end if, he was soooooo important and all those people were impacted so much then howcome they could not fund the music dept? It just did not make sense. It was also sad how he treated his wife and son for all of his son's childhood and teen years. He was an ass to them. It was good that he finally tried to relate to his son later on. Anyway, I felt it was a good movie, that made a point of how an educator could touch many lives. I just felt that it was really silly how the music program was so easily thrown away if the whole community realized how IMPORTANT it had been.
and for those of you who take great pleasure in insulting those who don't like the film by throwing out juvenile insults, get over yourselves. You are far less important than you believe yourself to be.
I'm totally with you. Smarmy, tug at your heartstrings, over-acted dreck from beginning to end. Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone.
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I found this to be more of an education system movie than a music movie.
People who don't like this movie don't appreciate how screwed up our education system is. Teachers with this much passion for teaching don't exist anymore. If kids seem less inspired to learn these days, its probably because the new generation of teachers are less inspiring. And some of the really good ones are being pushed down the line. Why pay a tenured teacher 70,000 a year when you can pay his replacement just out of college about 20,000? And with music, it is a dying artform. Hip hop has taken the youth by storm, so finding kids who care about playing an instrument is a bit harder. Cut a music program, no one will think twice. Cut an athletics program, prepare for an all out campus/town protest.
If you hate this whole movie, you have to at least love where he sings Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" with sign language to his deaf son who has been deprived from learning the one passion that has kept them from having a bond. If you can't at least appreciate that part of the movie, I implore you to do some deep soul searching to see if you have one.
^^Not really. Was his singing the song to Cole supposed to make up for his neglect and distance from Cole for his entire life to that point? It was cheesy. The film is far fetched and another manipulator by Hollywood.
shareWas his singing the song to Cole supposed to make up for his neglect and distance from Cole for his entire life to that point?
No, it was a beginning. Note how Cole did not rush into his arms? THAT would have been cheesy. But Holland was man enough to realize he had been wrong on many levels and wanted to have a real relationship, and this performance was a great start to say that to his son:
1) it was a song by John Lennon, who they had argued about
2) it was "Beautiful Boy", a song explicitly about a father's love for his son, and
3) he learned sign language to sign it to Cole!
You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi
No, you're not the only one. As usual, when Hollywood tries to portray creative types, it has them creating the worst kind of middlebrow pap.
(And before anyone accuses me of being 12 years old, I'm 50, have an advanced degree in American history, and love classical music and old movies. I also played in my high school orchestra.)
EDIT: I'm watching it now to see if I like it any better than I did 10+ years ago. So far, I don't. It's alternately predictable and implausible:
- The kids aren't learning, so here's something original: let's talk to them about their music. Not only has that already been done plenty of times in teacher movies, but it also doesn't work. The last thing high school kids want to hear a middle-aged teacher talk about is the culture they consider their own.
- A girl who can hardly get one good note out her clarinet is suddenly able to improvise because he tells her to think about her hair.
- Nobody who's not developmentally delayed has as bad a sense of rhythm as Terrence Howard's character.
"What I got don't need pearls." -- Linda Darnell (1923-65)
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babe_etc,
I agree with you completely on opinionizing on the "movie" but not on other opinionizers. Everyone has a right to like or hate this film. I found the movie as a whole absolutely enchanting. It's only the end of the movie I take issue with. Somehow, the idea of getting a going-away party thrown for me by so-called appreciative students ... knowing that some of those appreciative students voted to axe my music program ... would be a bit too hypocritical for me to stomach. It's kinda like these students were saying, "We love you, Holland ... but not so much that we'd be willing to fund your program so our children could have the same experiences we had. So, get lost."
But (grin), that's just me.
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I didn't hate the movie, but what bothered me was how could they have pulled of rehearsing his opus with out his input.
shareI watched the film shortly after it came out, and liked it. After becoming a teacher about 14 years ago, I liked it a lot more, and watched it several times. Having said that, the last time I watched it, I vowed never to watch it again, because I started to get to the point where I could no longer ignore its problems:
* The bit with the Governor showing up to speak at the end infuriated me, I realize that there is definitely some basis in reality, but you can't tell me that she didn't have the power to do something about it
* For a symphony that he was working on for 30 years, it sounded like something that was written in about 5 minutes
* During the performance, when they cut to reactions of his family and friends, their reactions were a little over the top. There were also some other spots where the film was poorly directed.
Ultimately, I wanted to maintain my happy memories of the film, and watching it again would make them go away.
are you retarded?
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