I think of all the movies on my list this may be the least known of the movies that the people I know that would read my reviews. I really don’t think I worded that very well but to sum up I may need to describe this movie in a bit more detail than usual. This was released in 1995 and directed by Stephen Herek. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy, and Jay Thomas. This movie also signifies the second Tri-Critic Sync Challenge movie on the bounce and this one is again on the outskirts of the challenge but I said 7 points will be the line and this hits that line. With none of us agreeing with each up and in ascending order IMDb gave this a 7.3 out of 10 & Rotten Tomatoes a wee bit more with a 75%. This joins a list of movies on the outer ring of the target but it is a hit on the board! Talking of hits this had a box-office return of $106.2m from an initial budget of $31m. Not only that I will also mention (I try to avoid this subject but..) this was nominated for Golden Globes for Best Screenplay, Best Actor & Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama. This is a film for the pure movie fan. There is no big action sequencies, there is no explosions car chases or action of any type there is a lot of dialogue and actual acting. Which for one of my favourite movies makes a real change no knives, chainsaw’s or spaceships either! So onto the plot.
Set in Portland and starting in 1965 a 30 year old Glenn Holland is a talented musician and a damn fine composer as well. In an attempt to give himself more time to compose orchestral music he takes a teaching job at John F Kennedy High School. He soon realises that music is the dark arts of education and he is on the outskirts of team dynamics. There are questions about whether music should even be taught in school anyway. With a school budget shrinking why keep this additional subject going. Slowly he starts to win over his colleagues and settles into the school. To connect with his students he plays rock’n’roll as a route into the classical stuff. Whilst he is working his charm with his school problems start to grow at home with his wife Iris feeling left alone by the amount of time he is spending at school. Their son is born but Cole is found to be deaf which means Glenn reacts with aggression and frustration due to a music teacher and composer having a deaf child. Iris starts to learn American Sign Language to be able to communicate with his son but Glenn is less keen which further strains their relationship. Some time later Mr Holland has been asked to form a marching band when the sports coach brings his attention onto a particular student Louis who he is trying to improve his grades to save his wrestling eligibility. Mr Holland gets Louis to play a bass drum and raises his grades to maintain his eligibility whilst in exchange the coach who is ex-military teaches the band how to march. Years later Louis wins his third All-State Wrestling Championship before being recruited and sent to fight in the Vietnam War. Another student comes under Mr Hollands gaze as having great musical talent but is cocky and lazy. They hear of Louis’ death in the war and that take this student Louis’ funeral, this helps improve his attitude to school. Various other students come under his attention and he helps them improve and grow through the school. All while his own son is being ignored by him until it comes to a head and a big argument brings everything back into his focus. He keeps helping and nurturing the school students to become bigger and more successes than himself which means he has less and less time to complete his Opus. We move to 1995 and he is still writing his opus and improved relationship with his son and wife the school have made the final decision that music is too expensive to remain at the school and a 60 year old Mr Holland has finally lost the fight to keep it at the school and decides to retire. Realising that he has given everything to his students to make them better people and people that have gone on to be much more successful than himself, the school are unable to have enough respect for him to find another way to fund the music department and despite his love and devotion given to everyone else he is now forced into retirement with just finishing his Opus and now too old to do anything with it.
You know what I am welling up just typing that, I did not say this was a happy movie did I? This is a lovely story of a man growing into a role he probably didn’t want but then using it to do so much good in other people that he believes he has wasted his own years. The story draws you into the film steadily and you slowly fall in love with the characters as you believe that these people are doing what they believe is morally correct thing to do. You then get on Glenn’s side and really support him and to see the devastation in his character when his son is born deaf. You realise he is human and can make the wrong decision based on his core being. How can a musician connect with a deaf child. His reluctance to learn ASL means that as his son grows and learns ASL himself he cannot communicate with him meaning they both use Glenn’s wife (Cole’s mother) as an interpreter. Which when they get into arguments puts her right in the middle. Straining the relationship to breaking point of both to his wife and to his son. For his role to be washed away with government cuts and then his realisation that everyone used him as a ladder to improve their lives whilst his has remained on this rung and put all of his own hopes and desires behind others and others that he eventually believes didn’t really care. Knowing that doing good is enough for some people and getting the respect of others doesn’t matter as going home with a sense of achievement is enough to keep you going. This is a lovely movie as there is a sense of pride in there and when there is a story that tells the life of someone there is a sense of squeezing 30 years into an hour feels like you are missing big chunks so with this movie you know he is still helping kids learning music and every so often a talented child comes along that he can spring board to stardom or just to become the greatest they could be. Those kids are seen and not all of them make it to the end of the movie just like Louis, which makes me realise that this movie is also about life and that is why I love it. Life isn’t always fair but this story has a heartbeat throughout showing that love and devotion will show what life is really all about and this movie shows it. So, if you want to have a good cry and be uplifted by a humble man doing good for the sake of doing good. This is a truly lovely loving movie and I would strongly recommend having something to cry into to hand, getting hold of a copy of this, and actually giving this movie a chance.
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