Customer Reviews
The Anti-Dead Poet's Society - By: A. A. Dainty, 10 Sep 2007 
I didn't know what to expect when watching this film but as the other reviewer has written, you are meant to believe it is along the lines of The Dead Poet's Society which I think is a very good film about learning to be yourself & not another brick in the walll. The Emperor's CLub however seems to think that everyone should conform to one code. Although I didn't like the Senator's Character I felt that he had one of the most important lines; "You will not mold my son."
I also found the direction rather heavy handed, whenever the viewer was supposed to think about a certain issue the camera returned to a prop whose significance had been set up at the start of the film.
I do not wish to be too harsh about the film as it is still watchable but don't expect anything new or finely crafted if you choose to watch this film.
Bad marketing, brilliant film - By: Peacock Wings, 28 Apr 2005 
This Film was made up to look like a variation of "Dead Poet's Society" (at least here in Austria/Germany it was), so I was rather reluctant to watch it. I was very surprised. The film is magnificent, a lot better than DPS (it deals with something completely different). The whole film revolves around ethics & how the ethical can deal with the non-ethical. Sounds very high-brow? Well, a Latin teacher of very strict ethics manages to wake a spark in a pupil of dubious morals. To nurture that spark the teacher goes against his principals. It turns out the student is not worth the effort of the teacher. This leaves the teacher doubting his moral code. Furthermore, the student & other not so strictly principled people succeed in life, while the teacher remains what he is: a teacher, although he had hoped to become headmaster. So are ethics (i.e. rigid priciples) worthless? And can you imbue them into people who don't believe in them?
These are some of the questions the film asks. Some of them it answers, & some of them it doesn't. And that's the reallly beautiful thing about this film: it leaves you thinking for a long time afterwards, because it doesn't present you with any ready-made answers.
A must see for anybody who cares about values & how to pass them on to the younger generation & whether one can still live by them & win (but what is to "win"?). So, basicallly, it should be a film for everybody.
The film is based on the short story "The Palace Thief" by Ethan Canin, which I haven't read, but intend to do.
