I first saw DPS when I was fourteen. At that time I was in the top(!) all boys(!) secondary school. We just had a new Literature teacher(!), and she wanted to show us DPS because we were doing poetry(!), and mind you, not a film review. Well, perhaps the fact that we also had an all-girls sister school(!) which was staging 'A Midsummer's Night Dream'(!) with us at that time are mere coincidences too!!! So now you see why I can relate to the film so well!!! But luckily, that's where the similarity stops. The pressure in Singapore is not so strong that we have people killing themselves over their grades, nor did anyone pull a 'phone call from God' stunt during the sombre Headmaster assemblies...
Anyway, during the next lesson we had a short discussion about the film, and I remembered she tried to convince the class to stand on their desks to 'see things in a new perspective' like in the film. And like in the film, some of us stood up eagerly ('To feel taller?'), some stood up but didn't know what was there to see, and some stood up and nearly got their heads chopped off by the ceiling fans... In the end, I was one of four people who didn't stand up, and this includes one person who didn't want to get his desk dirty... I didn't stand up because I wanted to be like Charles and '...exercise my right not to...'. I reckoned if everyone else stood on their desks, wouldn't my perspective on the ground be the unique one instead? The following year I dropped Literature. My History teacher liked to tell us the story of how she dropped Literature in school because she enjoyed the subject too much, and didn't want to have to dissect and study Literature... I wish I could say the same,...but I dropped Literature because I wasn't good at it! But whatever it was, I never forgot that first viewing of DPS.
Since then, I have watched the film seven times over the years. Each time, it was just another old rerun over television which I just could not resist missing. It's the same with my favourite Mandarin movie (Chungking Express) too! Even though I can practically visualize each scene and playback each dialogue already, I still find it very enjoyable to watch every time! Perhaps it's a sign of a good film if you don't get tired of it... The theme for this film is very strong, and I would always discover new naunces of the plot which contribute to the theme as I watch it again. That's why I think I should write something about it for the benefit of others who may be interested. Check out my Analysis of the film!
My favourite character is Charlie. I felt he is a very strong character whom I can relate to a lot. I think it has a lot to do with his wisecracks... You can check out the Memorable Scenes section for some of them! But I also liked the way he would not conform with the crowd, like standing in one corner by himself during lessons and doing things differently. Most of all, in the cellar, he was the only one who socked Cameron! I felt that was the only thing anyone could have done in those circumstances. The punch was really no big deal actually. Charlie didn't betray DPS before and he certainly wasn't going to accuse Keating now. So he would have got expelled anyway! And his strength showed through when he kept his promise to protect the identity of DPS when the first time he got into trouble.
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