It was a very powerful film. I feel like the pet with Rowena wasn’t needed too they could have show us the same thing but with someone his own age imho but overall it was a great emotional film. Thank you once again for your support!
JuliDG
2020-03-16 03:24:54 +0000 UTC
Thank you, so very much for your reaction to this phenomenal and emotional movie! I truly love Mr. Holland's Opus, and I can't help but cry every time I watch this movie. It's beautiful and powerful. And I love Richard Dreyfuss in this role. I apologize for making you cry again by choosing a movie that hit so close to home for you.
Richard Dreyfuss plays Glenn Holland... a man who longs to compose his own symphony, yet winds up becoming a music teacher instead when his dreams fall short, with all the support from his wife, Iris. And sadly, he goes into teaching without the heart to teach, and it doesn't take much for him to lose his patience with the students whom he can't seem to get through to.
Mr. Holland quickly befriends his long time friend and the school's physical education teacher, Bill Meister, and eventually grows close with the school's principal, Mrs. Jacobs. With their support, and the support of a few other teachers as well, and the support of his wife, Mr. Holland comes to be beloved by all for the inspiration he has instilled in all of his students through the power of music and his love for it all, from Beethoven to John Lennon.
Unfortunately, Mr. Holland goes through a point in his life where life is the most difficult. In struggling to balance his home life, the struggles with having a deaf son he can't connect to upon failing to understand him, and a wife who puts all of her attention on their son so she can communicate with him.
And unfortunately, all of these struggles brings Mr. Holland to becoming infatuated with one of his students. Not because he falls in love with her in the way that she has fallen in love with him. Because he didn't love her. She became a muse and even an inspiration to him when he was struggling so deeply with finding strength to continue on in his life. Because he comes to love the idea of her when his life has become most difficult, as she offers him a chance to escape from his struggles and fears. Like you... if there is any part of this movie I don't care for, it's from the moment he meets Rowena until she leaves on the bus. I feel that this whole storyline could have been ;eft out altogether. However, I appreciate that this storyline shows a weakness in him, that eventually helps him to come to appreciate his family that much more and helps him to find the strength to keep pushing forward.
I absolutely love Mr. Holland's struggles with his son. It's absolutely understandable that someone who loves music as much as he does, would struggle to connect to his deaf son, who he fears will never be able to find the same appreciation for what he loves so deeply. And I love that in time, Cole eventually finds his voice to show his father just how wrong he is to keep pushing him aside and for being so impatient with him. And in the end, father and son have come to grow very close, and this storyline to me is the most powerful and emotional storyline. It's beautiful. I love Mr. Holland's relationship with his family.
And I love seeing all he does for his students as well. I love how he inspires one student to play confidently by playing what she feels is the sunset like the color of her hair. I love how Mr. Holland teaches a student with no former musical gift to play the drums and to love music so he can wrestle for his school as well, and then graduate in spite of school being more difficult for him than all the rest of his students. Tragically, Russ dies in Vietnam during the war. Yet from this, Mr. Holland inspires another student who is extremely smart and knows everything about music, yet who has no appreciation for it until we see in the end that he's grown to appreciate music like so many others.
I love the moment when Mr. Holland sings to his son at one of his concerts to show his son how much he truly does love him, and to show how sorry he has been for being unable to be there for him like he should have been. And he sings Beautiful Boy, by John Lennon while he signs, showing just how much further he's come along in his efforts to do right by Cole. Absolutely beautiful.
And in the end... Mr. Holland feels he has failed to have left an impact on anyone after he is let go when all of the arts programs within the school are cut due to budget cuts. However, in the most beautiful and powerful moment within this movie, Mr. Holland is shocked to find that his wife, son, all of his former students, and his dearest friends have arranged a touching farewell to Mr. Holland to show him their thanks for all he's done for them. And in a gift they offer him to show their thanks, students from all the years past, including the young girl he inspired to play the sunset who has come to be the state Governor, they all play for him for the first time... Mr. Holland's own symphony never before played. And it's absolutely beautiful. I love Gertrude Lang's words... as she shares with Mr. Holland that they are his opus and greatest symphony upon him inspiring so many, who all have come to love him.
Overall... this movie is inspirational, powerful, heartbreaking, and I absolutely love it. I can't help but cry in a number of moments throughout this movie. So, thank you so much once again for reacting to it for me! I look forward to many more movie reactions to come. Until next time...