The History Boys - 4th May 2010

Tonight's big screen beauty is the fascinating The History Boys.

I liked this film a lot, based on the Alan Bennett play, it follows the trials and tribulations of 8 schoolboys trying to get into university. I really like this kind of film, it's a study on human behaviour and interaction, with liberal sprinklings of humour and sadness. A must see film, and one I shall be watching again.

Synopsis;

A group of history pupils at a boys’ grammar school in Sheffield pursue a place at Oxford or Cambridge, where they are subjected to contrasting styles of teaching. Adapted from Alan Bennett’s immensely successful play of the same name, The History Boys focuses on the experiences of eight history students at a grammar school in northern England in the mid 1980s as they attempt to get a place at the top two universities in the country; Oxford and Cambridge.

The headmaster of the school is keen to send as many of his pupils to Oxbridge as possible and employs supply teacher Irwin to teach them the tricks of trade concerning how to get into Oxford or Cambridge. This style of teaching is contrasted sharply with that of the boys’ eccentric and maverick English teacher Hector (Richard Griffiths) and the facts and figures based teaching style of their history teacher Mrs Linnott (Frances De La Tour).

The History Boys primarily focuses on the state of the education system in the 1980s and what the teenage boys learn about life, love and education along the way and succeeds in being a hugely entertaining film about growing up and the different approaches to life one can take.