Mr. Holland's Opus

A Movie About Love and Love For Music
Recent showing of "Music of My Heart" starring Merryl Strepp as a substitute teacher striving to sustain a violin program for low-income kids in New York City reminds me of this all-time favorite classic released back in 1996. The bottom line is love.

Situated in Oregon in the fall of 1964, Glen Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) took up a job as a high school music teacher as his wife became pregant. Holland, now shouldered with added responsibility as a soon-to-be father, a composer, and a teacher, faced the immediate challenge of working with a diverse group of students: the naturally talented, the rebellious, and the physically impaired.

This is a movie about love and love of music. Glenn Holland is the central figure who strives to love his students and family through his devotion to music. Born deaf-toned, the dream of teaching his own son to become an eminent violinist inevitably bursts with much frustration. Glenn Holland is not perfect; in fact,...

Warm Plot, Rich Production
The quality of Mr. Holland's Opus spreads evenly throughout its plot, its message, and its marvelous appreciation of music and the arts. In fact, this movie delivers both definition and demonstration of music appreciation as a whole, absent of selective bias. Devoid of senseless killings, violence, or notable language, Opus is a family movie without the corny overtones. For many it's a tearjerker.

But Mr. Holland's Opus unfolds an issue. It is a simple plea for an increase in music appreciation among society--particularly our young people. Mr. Holland's career is pressured more and more by the gradual, yet perpetual governmental cuts in school funding for the arts amid the US. In sharp contrast, the movie makes it clear that support for the sports programs in public schools remain firm and solid. Careful to avoid cursing this predicament or hurling insults toward society, this message is rather Hollywood's way of calmly saying, "Take a look," using the...

My Favorite Movie!
I've seen a lot of classic films over my lifetime, but there was something about this movie that made it stand above the rest. Perhaps it was the moving story about a composer who turns to teaching in a high school to pay the bills, but winds up staying there for 30 years through a series of personal tragedies and triumphs. Maybe it was the spectacular cast that includes Richard Dreyfuss in an Oscar nominated turn as the title character, Glenne Headley as his loyal wife, Jay Thomas as his trusted friend, and Olympia Dukakis as the boss he hates and loves. It might have been the realistic way it portrays high school life over thirty years, or the wonderful use of music from different periods to add to the story, or even the way it doesn't stay away from sensitive issues in our world (death, war, the deaf, and the struggles of balancing work and family are all talked about). However, I feel the reason I love this movie so much is because of the realistic way it depicts a...

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