A Good Movie for the Vacation

A few months ago I set my DVR to record “Mr. Holland’s Opus,” the 1995 film with Richard Dreyfuss.  The movie remained in the DVR for months.  Finally, when my husband and I were coming up empty-handed for movies to watch on cable we decided to watch “Mr. Holland’s Opus.”

The movie begins in 1965 with Mr. Holland, who is a composer, who decides to use the teaching certificate he obtained a few years prior (just so he could “fall back” on something) to teach high school music.  Mr. Holland turns to teaching as a way to save money over the course of four years so he can devote his full attention to composing music.  But then, life happens.  His wife gets pregnant with a son.  Shortly after putting the baby-to-be’s crib together they realize their apartment is too small and buy a house.  In the midst of all of this, Mr. Holland realizes he isn’t connecting with his students the way he should be (since he didn’t really want to teach in the first place).  Therefore, he begins to look at his job as a teacher in a new way.  Over time, he comes to love teaching.  In fact, he begins to love it.  Teaching fulfills him so much that he turns away from composing music and focuses his energies on his teaching career to the point that it almost costs him his family.

The movie tracks Mr. Holland’s career into the early 1980’s and then to 1995 when his district is facing budget cuts — something that’s all too familiar to those of us in education today.  Without acting as a spoiler for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie, the movie ends with an unexpected twist that will bring you to tears and make you feel good about your decision to be an educator, regardless of how long you’ve been in the teaching profession.  This movie is a definite must-see or must-watch-again over the winter recess.