3. Characters of the Movie
Rowena Morgan
Glenn Holland
Gertrude Lang
Vice Principal Walters
Bill Meister
Principal Jacobs
Cole Holland Louis Russ
4. Summary
Music and arts programs are an important part of a
quality education. The movie that best illustrates this
point is Mr. Holland's Opus.."Mr. Holland's
Opus" is a film that shows the
importance of arts education on
adolescence and how the efforts of
one dedicated teacher can be a major
influence in not only the cultural growth of
a local community but also in the
development of many individual lives.
5. Mr. Holland is a composer wannabe turned music
teacher who initially has a hard time teaching the
fundamentals of music to his high
school band students. After
several failed attempts to stir his
students' curiosity about music and
history, Mr. Holland tries a new
approach.
6. The movie started off with Richard Dreyfuss’ first day of
teaching in John F. Kennedy High School as a music teacher on
Music Appreciation subject. Time and again the movie
emphasized on the fact that it is Mr. Glen Holland’s
(Richard Dreyfuss’ character) dream to be
able to finish his composition. As life
went on, Mr. Holland transitioned from
being a so-so teacher into a teacher who
went beyond the mediocre and lived for the
purpose of teaching, even as he saw for
himself the benefits of his efforts in his students’
lives. This was so with the help of his co-teacher friend who
coaches the school’s football team. He told his personal story
of how his very own teacher changed his life.
7. We saw that even as Mr. Holland touched his students’
lives with the way he teaches, he himself also is
brought into maturity in the very events in his
personal life. We evidently see the
conflict within his family how he
diverted his attention into teaching his
class in school while his actions totally
suggest a denial of his s on’s hearing
impairment. Which is a major despair for him,
even as he is so much into music and the desperation
was even more reflected with his realization that the
great Beethoven lost his sense of hearing in his
adulthood, while his son was born deaf.
8. It is interesting to note how Mr. Holland changed the
lives of people around him, not just his students, but
even of the teachers and the school’s principal,
whom he only rubbed cold elbows
with in the beginning. With the
duration of time and as people saw
for themselves, this teacher’s
dedication to his craft and his character of a
man, peoples’ lives were changed, and showed their
appreciation for his life towards the end of the movie
when they all showed him, that his life’s ultimate
composition/opus is the people’s lives which he has
touched and changed.
9. But before that happened, it turned out that as human
as he is, the casualty of Mr. Holland’s dedication to his
work was his family as he took them for granted,
especially his son, who surprisingly was
brought up by his mom to still be
confident despite the conspicuous
rejection from his father, who
obviously didn’t bother learning
the ropes of signing for his son’s
sake. It was only when his son was towards his
adulthood that he saw how he missed all those years
of growing up and knowing him.
10. From then on, he came to terms with his disability and accepted
him for what he is. There came a realization of a hole in Mr.
Holland’s heart when towards the prime of his
life he has realized he has not fulfilled his
dream of finishing his music. During this
time a temptation struck him. Rowena, a
young lady with a golden voice who
looked up to him with awe and attraction, came
into the picture offering him affirmation of what he
is as a truly gifted musician, which his wife has failed to provide
him because of her very own pre-occupation with attending to
their son’s special needs.
11. Mr. Holland stood in that crossroad of his life and he passed it
with flying colors when despite the many frustrations he must
have had with his family, he still chose his family over the
hopeful future he might have with Rowena who he
knows can embrace his love for music and he
knows he can finally finish his life long dream
to finish his opus, which he entitled after
her name. This crossroad wherein
Mr. Holland selflessly chose to do what’s
right and not what’s convenient for him.
Choosing his family over his personal interest.
12. It was a test of character for his part and as he chose to stick to
his commitment to his family and what’s right rather than
choose selfishly what he could have rationalized as rightfully his
(his finally finishing his composition). Towards the climax of
the movie, he saw right before his eyes, in total
amazement, the rewards of all his
selflessness and dedication to the very
purpose of his being. All of the generations
of students whose lives he has changed were
all there playing the very opus he has put his
heart and soul into and has thought all along that day
he will never get to see.
13. Moral lesson of the Movie
This movie is great because I
think it does a good job of
reflecting the gambit of
emotions teachers experience. I’d
like to share a bit of thinking I’ve
been doing after a significant quote.
14. Mr. Holland’s administrator tracks him down in the
hallway. During the course of the conversation, this
exchange takes place:
Mr. Holland: Mrs. Jacobs, I get here on
time, every morning, don’t I? I’m doing
my job the best I can.
Administrator: A teacher has two jobs: Fill
young minds with knowledge, yes. But more
important, give those minds a compass so that
knowledge doesn’t go to waste.
15. Getting to work on time every morning and
accomplishing the tasks necessary for a
functional classroom is not enough to do
the job of a teacher well. I’ve
always told my friends in other
professions that people who go
into education have a great
advantage. Teachers have more
experience with the profession before
their first day on the job than anyone else in any
other profession.
16. We watched our teachers in every grade
through senior year, again in undergraduate
classes, and then again in the work past
the baccalaureate degree. We get
more practice in our profession
before it actually counts than any
other through the student teacher
experience. We may get more
practice on “filling young minds
with knowledge,” but there is no way
to really practice being a compass.
17. No matter how prepared a teacher is, being a
compass for those kids is something that
you’re constantly learning and
adapting. A compass is only
good if it guides and directs in
the right direction. Sometimes I’m
right on with this and pointing my
students toward success. Other times
I’m not guiding my students in the right
direction. I want to make sure that I’m living up
to my task as a compass.
