"YAWP!" Hollywood's Teachers Earn A+

Another school year has begun as children and adolescents all over the world head back to class. Hollywood has long used the dynamics of the student-teacher relationship as fodder for its films. Whether the teacher is portrayed as mentor, confidante, friend or foe, these films all focus on shared experiences common the world over - irrespective of cultural, economic or geographic differences.

Due in large part to our own memories of school - as it was or as we wished it would have been - the setting is ripe for classic Hollywood moments.

One can't forget Ethan Hawke in Dead Poet's Society as he stepped up to the top of his desk and said, "Oh Captain, my Captain" to a departing Robin Williams. This tribute to his dismissed teacher was made all the more poignant and stirring as it comes from the mouth and heart of a student who was so deathly shy that he could barely speak without anguish at the beginning of the film. His courage and defiance in support of his teacher inspires the other students to follow his lead and the circle of learning is complete. Hawke has learned the most important lesson Williams had to teach -to stand alone when necessary.

Lulu sings "To Sir, With Love" in the movie of the same name to Sidney Potier - a group of working-class misfits turned into a community of learning by a teacher who refused to give up. As in most such films, the formula requires there to be an initial mistrust and reluctance on the part of the students to follow their new leader. Afterwhich, the twin influences of caring and compassion lead, not only to trust, but to a kind of messianic devotion on the part of the adolescents.

Such was the case in Lean On Me. Morgan Freeman stands on stage in the auditorium of Eastside High. He challenges the assembled students to reach for the stars and defy expectations of failure. "Lean on Me" is sung by the music teacher. All pick up the chorus and the auditorium is filled with sound and passion. Later in the film, the devotion can be seen in the students as they march to the jail cell where Principal Joe Clark is being held. His release is guaranteed as the state test results arrive at the height of the confrontation.

In the final scene of The Emperor's Club, Kevin Kline welcomes a tardy pupil into class. As he asks the young boy his name, he realizes he is the son of the one past student Kline thought he had wronged. As he continues his interrupted lesson, he looks out the window to see the now middle aged father walking down the path with a glance backwards - an affirmation of trust and forgiveness. It is an understated moment packed with meaning and restraint which resonates long after the film is done. The Emperor's Club was unique in that the "big moment" was quiet, internal and required some degree of audience sensitivity to the underlying feelings being experienced by Kline.

The Browning Version sees Albert Finney as an English public school teacher who seems universally despised by the pupils. Forced into retirement, the unpopular teacher is given a gift by one young student - the book of the film's title. As Finney reads the inscription (unseen by the audience) he breaks down in tears and sobs. This moment, together with those above, reminds us that the teacher is as touched and affected by this relationship as the student. Like education itself, it is never a one-way street.

Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland's Opus receives an unexpected tribute when he has reached the nadir of his personal strength. Dejected and discarded, he feels that his years battling to teach music have been unnoticed and unappreciated. He enters the auditorium to find a packed house waiting to give him thanks and his self-worth is restored.

Apart from these uplifting scenes, another common theme is to use the teacher-student relationship as a vehicle for realization that having a hero is a dangerous prospect. Heroes are tarnished and fallible. As in life, sadness and entry into an uncertain, unkind world are the result of this inevitable betrayal.

In Young Sherlock Holmes, Nicholas Rowe undergoes such a moment when he battles his hitherto idolized teacher, Moriarty, in the film's climactic scene. Storytelling often demands that good triumph over evil and the young over the old. As such, Holmes defeats Moriarty in a circle rich with meaning. The learner has become the master just as Darth Vader said to his own mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi as preface to their light sabre duel in Star Wars.

Other films which have played on this theme of mentoring are Timothy Hutton in TAPS being misguidedly inspired by George C. Scott into an armed student takeover of a miltary academy to save the school from closure. This underseen film features performances from Sean Penn and Tom Cruise both in early roles prior to achieving stardom.

Non traditional teacher-student relationships still follow the same basic dynamic of an older male influencing a younger male and, in turn, being influenced by him as in Ordinary People between Judd Hirsch and, once again, Timothy Hutton in the role which won him an Oscar. Other examples are Mel Gibson as a shunned outsider tutoring a trusting young man in The Man Without A Face or Sean Connery leading a very young Christian Slater in The Name Of The Rose. A more recent example is the almost paternal relationship between Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire in The Cider House Rules.

This reverent treatment is absent from comedies where the the teacher is held up as an object of ridicule - woefully incapable of reaching a student as in the classic scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off where Ben Stein endlessly prompts - "Anyone? Anyone?" - to a drooling and nearly catatonic classroom of teenagers.

For the teacher cast in the role of quasi-villain see School Ties with Brendan Fraser. The film also features early performances from Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Chris O'Donnell. Unreasonable demands and frosty posturing from a pedantic French teacher is the catalyst which leads to the film's confrontation and inevitable life lesson.

But apart from these exceptions, these films share common themes of individuality, courage and constant devotion to the self - a union of mind and spirit in a life-altering consummation. Villain or angel, the teacher is always given a role of profound significance which eclipses even that of the parents. They are the teachers we all wished we had. In those brief moments we remember the value of education coupled with the endless hope and possibility of youth - if only we could all meet that one person who would stand for us until we are ready to stand for ourselves, to be there to help us find our own voice - as Ethan Hawke did when he let loose his mighty "Yawp" in Dead Poet's Society.

In capturing the timeless significance of the influence and importance of this time in everyone's life, Hollywood just might have gotten it right. In this instance, the report card should read A+.