Cady's Take:

This is a film about a man with principles, whose very belief system is tested, torn down, and built back up again. Failing with one student doesn't erase the good a teacher does with dozens of other students. Although entertaining this is not an Oscar-caliber performance.

And the question that remains in my mind is “Is a club for an emperor all that different from a society for dead poets?”

At first glance “The Emperor’s Club” seems very much like “Dead Poets’ Society” – the settings are both all-boys boarding schools where fresh-faced students are struggling upstream toward manhood. We explore honor and love, and the connection that a teacher can make with a student – or group of students. However the similarities dissipate in the first few minutes and we are left with an entirely different film. Not to mention a good one.

Kevin Kline plays William Hundert, as The Teacher – you know the one. He made you feel smarter than you thought you were, he made you want to do your homework – hopefully we have all had at least one. He takes the troubled and precocious Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) – a student determined to fail – and makes him want to succeed. Hundert has a weakness for this student-redeemed, which leads him to make a decision with a shaky ethical foundation (and which Hundert later regrets) when Sedgewick proves himself to be unworthy of the teacher’s affections (and of his transgression.)

“The Emperor’s Club” is about the failure of a teacher who struggles with his desire to be both a good teacher and a successful one. It also highlights how the desire of a teacher to make a difference can override the concept of being fair – it shows how even the most noble of us can fall prey to the desire to make an impact, and it shows this desire is not borne of generosity, but of selfishness. The ending is perfect – there is no moral ribbon wrapping up neatly the ethical dilemmas, but Hundert manages to find peace and Sedgewick is dealt justice in a manner subtler than we expect – and more appropriate as well.