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Only the best of the best of British students get to go to Oxford and Cambridge—and only the best of the best of British schools can prepare those students. So when eight boys in the same school get top grades—grades that make them candidates for Oxford and Cambridge—the headmaster (Clive Merrison) decides that it’s time the eight young men got serious about their education. So he brings in Mr. Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), a new history teacher, whose job is to teach them what they’ll need to know to get accepted into the right school.
Meanwhile, some of the boys’ other classes are cut back, since they’re not seen as critical to the boys’ university acceptance. The teacher who suffers the most is Hector (Richard Griffiths), their “general studies” teacher, whose laidback style has helped the boys learn everything from poetry to drama to French. After school, though, Hector teaches them something entirely different—and it’s a well-known fact among students that he only offers his students rides home on his scooter so he can grope them at stop signs.
The History Boys is a Tony-winning play that’s been adapted for the screen, starring the original cast. It’s a story about growing up in the early ‘80s—about the learning that comes both inside and out of the classroom. In addition to the classroom lessons, viewers watch as Posner (Samuel Barnett) struggles with his sexuality—and with his all-encompassing (and not-so-secret) crush on his classmate, Dakin (Dominic Cooper). We also see Dakin, who comes off with his classmates (and his girlfriend, Fiona, played by Georgia Taylor) as clearly heterosexual, struggle with his own feelings.
While the boys’ performances are spectacular (especially Cooper and Barnett), the story isn’t as strong as I would like. Viewers barely get to know some of the students (there were a few, in fact, that I couldn’t really differentiate), so it’s difficult to care about them in the end. And I have to say that I’d worry about sending my kids to a British school after watching this movie—since it makes the entire staff come off as extremely sexually charged. It seems in this movie as through teachers groping students and having relationships with them isn’t a big deal at all. In fact, it comes off as just a normal part of everyday life. The students all know about it, and it’s just a joke to them. Everybody does it—and there aren’t really any consequences. And that made me a bit uneasy.
The best part of The History Boys is probably its soundtrack—featuring everything from The Clash to New Order to The Smiths. In the beginning of the film, the music provides plenty of energy to keep the action moving. And, in the beginning, it’s a lot of fun. But about halfway through, the music is cut back, and, at the same time, the action slows down, and it drags until the conclusion.
A promising film with a wonderful cast, The History Boys nevertheless fails to make a lasting impression.
