Mr. Holland’s Opus
It’s hard to imagine a high school band sounding as outright terrible as the one at the start of “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” How bad? As Roger Ebert said in his review, he couldn’t even recognize the first four notes of Beethoven’s Fifth.
But “Mr. Holland’s Opus” is a movie, and the point is less a band’s evolution but Mr. Holland’s as a teacher. What he really wants to be is a composer- we see him at the piano at the beginning. He has a grand symphony in his head. As a composer myself, I know the feeling. He’s taken up teaching as “a fallback position,” a term that does nothing to the confidence of Principal Jacobs (Olympia Dukakis) when he starts teaching in the mid-’60s.
But as he will discover in the next 30 years, dreams will change over time, and life isn’t worth much unless you can affect the lives of others. That last part is also the secret of being a good teacher as well.
My own Mr. Holland was, not coincidentally, also my high school music teacher, Mr. Alfred Watkins. I never really worked enough to be more than just an average trombonist, but music became much more than an elective in my four years at Lassiter High School. Because of music played during marching shows and in concert band, my musical horizons expanded to include classical music and, eventually, film music.
Watching it now, I find I identify as much with Glen Holland (Richard Dreyfuss, in a superb, Oscar-nominated performance) as I do with the students he teaches (and inspires) along the way in this heartwarming drama. By my senior year, I had decided that composing was a passion I wanted to pursue. But by the time I graduated college five years later, more practical concerns led to a job at a movie theatre. Eight years later, I’ve found a reasonably healthy balance between my career at the theatre and my dreams of composing music…and making films…and writing about films. There are times when I let these passions slide, but I’ve gotten to the point in my life when I’m able to see where each of these things fit in my life.
It takes a while for Mr. Holland to get there. As the years go by, his own music has gone by the wasteside by and large, but his teaching has evolved. He’s found a way to inspire his students, to love what he does. This is what was so obvious while learning under Mr. Watkins at Lassiter. Unfortunately, Mr. Holland’s home life is a wreck. His son Cole was born deaf- how Glen reacts to this seems natural for a musician, but is wrong for a parent. He retreats from his home life- even his lovely wife Iris (the wonderful Glenne Headly) can feel him drifting away- and starts prioritizing his students over his family. They don’t really talk about it, but don’t worry- the film stays within PG troubles, and Disney solutions.
Anyone with an aversion to sap, formula, and anything else that comes with uplifting Hollywood schmaltz should stay away from Stephen Herek’s film. The script by Patrick Sheane Duncan (“Courage Under Fire”) hits all of the Disney-fied notes of a “Forrest Gump” type epic, a journey through the decades, of key moments in American history that seem to match the upheaval in Holland’s life. But Herek (“Rock Star,” the live-action “101 Dalmations”) does right by the story- he makes it accessible and appealing to audiences.
That’s partially because of Dreyfuss, who has always been a great everyman actor, dating back to his work with Spielberg in “Jaws” and “Close Encounters,” but- not surprisingly- it also has to do with the music. Not just the classic tunes we hear in the film’s 30-year span, but the score by Michael Kamen. We lost this composer far too soon (in 2003); thankfully, we have his scores for this, the “Lethal Weapon” films, “X-Men,” and “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” and many others to carry on his legacy. His music here is some of his best- inspiring and sappy to be sure, but he nails the film’s emotions memorably and movingly. Ultimately, it’s his music that gives voice to Mr. Holland’s life, and his successes and failures. Yeah, the ending- where the ultimate breadth of his life’s work is realized- is completely calculating, but I defy anyone with a Mr. Holland of their own not to be moved by it.
For years, I’ve hoped to be able to give back to Mr. Watkins the way Mr. Holland’s students do to him. I’ve been keeping him abreast of my own pursuits over the years. Back in August, when I released my short film score “Walpurgisnacht,” I got back a simple message from him that made me feel like I’m doing so just by continuing to pursue my passion in my own way.
