The fleeting moment arrived in that 1989 as a real bolt from the blueno one expected it to be a success, which it still is today one of the most beloved films of all time, capable of going beyond the mere dimension of the teen movie. Robin Williams as Professor Keating for 35 years he never stopped talking to us about freedom, happiness, a certain vision of lifeof the importance of education understood as the creation of free individuals and not substitutable or replaceable Meccans.
A film symbol of a cinematic decade dedicated to young people
The fleeting moment it was not a merely fictional filmin fact probably one of the secrets behind its success, was the realism of a story that had its roots in what happened to screenwriter Tom Schulmanwhen he was at Montgomery Bell Academy. Set in 1959, The fleeting moment actually had a more complicated gestation than expected, given that the name of Robin Williams it came out only after those of Liam Neeson, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman. The first director, Jeff Kanewwas not convinced that Williams was the right actor and alone with his departure in favor of Peter Weir production started. Despite several changes to the original script, sOn set the chemistry between Weir and Williams was fantastic, with the director often leaving the comedian free rein, who was often able to improvise at will. Williams in fact, created in his professor John Keatingthe perfect representation of what we all want to have in a Professor.
Intelligent, funny, empathetic, sensitive and full of passion, Keating has been floating around for 35 years as a kind of uncomfortable yardstick for real teachers in the real world. The film was then set in a very particular moment, in 1959 in which youth was slowly (but progressively) beginning to question the diktats of fathers and institutions. We were not yet at the level of open protest that would shock the world in the 1960s, but it was like something silent, just waiting to emerge, and it is Professor Keating, the new literature teacher, who explodes it. Keating wants to make sure his students start to look at their life as something different from a path already takena sterile path towards maturity made of prudence, conformism, which in the face of the unpredictability of existence, has no reason to exist.
The Boys of 56th Street he turns 40 but doesn’t look it
Francis Ford Coppola’s film was released on March 25, 1983. It still remains one of the most poignant and timely coming-of-age stories of all time.
The fleeting moment it had not only a wonderful Robin Williamsbut also a new generation of actors, some of whom would prove to be among the best of their generation. Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, Josh Charles, Gale Hansenwith their Neil, Todd, Knox and Charlie were the heart of a class as heterogeneous as it was impossible not to love. It certainly cannot be denied that Peter Weir’s film knew how to use a cliché, that of the educational institution to be fought and defeated as a system of oppressive power, which had dominated in that decade. Which forces us to broaden our gaze to the ’80s, which had teen movies as the new, great resource on the market. From Breakfast Club to the saga of Porky’sfrom Bad Boys to St. Elmo’s Firethere were many titles that made the Brat Pack a source of guaranteed success, and adolescence is the center of a new cinematographic course.
Connected to the triumph of youth pop culture of those yearsthis vast cinematic representation of the teen universe had often espoused anyway a mere contrast with the world of adults, with the carefreeness and freedom that only belonged to boys. The fleeting moment instead he made the whole thing take a leap in qualitytold us about the Carpe Diemquoting Horace Professor Keating becomes a symbol of a rejection of a mere contrast between the different phases of life. Age doesn’t matter, what matters is the soul, what matters is how you approach life. It applies to them who are not yet 17 years old, as for Keating, it is necessary to know how to seize opportunities, have audacity, face existence knowing that nothing is certain, nothing is predetermined, nothing is impossible. Which makes this film something much more complex of a mere comedy or youth drama, as much as a story about how our personality is formed in those years, how we decide who we will really be from then on.
The importance of giving young people tools to master life
The fleeting moment shows us a college where the principal Nolan (Norman Lloyd), is the perfect symbol of what unfortunately we frequently find in an educational institution: a small dictator interested in creating clones who repeat by heart what is written in books. Through Keating instead, those kids will learn about critical thinkingthey will begin to use their heads, they will create The Sect of Extinct Poetsa clandestine poetry group that Keating himself had created at their age, with which to give away ad a counterculture that reflects a desire to go further what their parents expect from them. In particular, the story will become increasingly central Neil, who dreams of being an actoras opposed to a dictatorial father (Kurtwood Smith) who wants a safe path for him, the one he probably couldn’t choose.
