Mr. Holland's Opus

Mr. Holland's Opus, while featuring Academy Award winners like Richard Dreyfuss, is a film with too many realistic components to be considered anything other than realism. It tells the story of Glenn Holland, an average Joe who just wants to compose great music and live a fantastic life, who ultimately ends up living a fantastic life through the lens of a highly influential high school band teacher. The film is one of my favorites. It’s one of those classic, feel good, inspirational family dramas that really just hits the heart where it hurts. Don’t believe me? Watch the trailer, but before you do, get ready to feel empowered to coach a rag-tag small town basketball team to victory or a direct a broken high school band to do great things. The movie is not cinematic bliss. There isn’t wonderfully art-filled movement and there are not loads of aesthetically pleasing color scheme. Honestly, the art and beauty of the film hardly come from the cinematography at all. It is just an honest story. That’s the beauty of Mr. Holland’s Opus—well, that and the utterly pleasant music.

This picture of Richard Dreyfuss (depicting Glenn Holland) seems to be representative of either a deep focus shot or a full shot. This shot represents a time of achievement in the protagonist’s life. The argument could be made that this is a deep focus shot because everyone in the audience is absolutely visible—facial expressions are determinable. But, while everyone in the audience is visible, they are nowhere near the focus of the shot. It is clear that the conductor is the intended focal point. 

This photo, though… looks familiar—doesn’t it? It’s quite fun to see this shot recreated at a much later time in the protagonist’s life. It’s wonderfully artful, too. *slight spoilers ahead* In this scene, Mr. Holland is being recognized for his many achievements as an educator. The auditorium he taught and conducted in for so many years is, to his surprise, filled to the brim with students, fellow faculty members, friends, and family that have over the years been tremendously impacted by this man. This shot looks more like a full shot than when it was shown before. None of the audience members are in focus, but a much wider range of the auditorium can be seen. It represents the abounding light Mr. Holland spread in every life he ever met and had the opportunity to teach. 

The noteworthy thing about this shot is that it is taken from a high angle. The angle shows us the great work Mr. Holland must conquer in order to truly make something out of this group of students. It also could imply that Mr. Holland is about to be seriously overwhelmed by the state of this group, and the lengths he is willing to endure to ensure the success of the people in the room.

Finally, this shot was just too precious to not include in the blog. The picture includes Mr. and Mrs. Holland and their young son.