On the trivia about this movie I read that Bill Murray was considered among the aspirants and that Liam Neesom initially was selected for this role but due to a change of directors, Robin got the part. I am sure that both actors would have delivered a convincing performance but Robin made it his own since he, as the character, was too the kind of person with an untamed personality and a strong sense of kindness.
Time flies mercilessly. I remember watching this movie when it initially got out. I also remember falling in love with Robin Williams’ vulnerability and deepness as portrayed by Mr. Keating, a witty but more subdued character than the ones interpreted by this actor so far. Later, to my own delight, many others would come.
Surprisingly enough, I did remember each teaching, each exercise, most of the poems, and each of the four values, tradition, honor, discipline, and excellence. Four values I poetically decided to formally embrace as my own at the end of the movie. Discipline has been, so far, the toughest for me. Carpe diem! Back to my recollections, although each one of these inspiring scenes have survived in my memories throughout all this time, I completely forgot it all about the drama that teaches the most valuable lesson in the movie: one must pay the price when we dare to challenge the status quo conscientiously and to live our lives deliberately.
Robin belongs today to the Dead Poets Society. Has died, and with him, his art. Honoring “O Captain! My Captain!”, what I believe was his reason for his sudden departure:
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, …”