This movie narrates the story of a musician, Mr. Holland, who is shown expressing his passion and desire to compose music at the beginning of the movie. He takes up a teaching assignment hoping that it will help him meet his financial commitments and give him the free time that he thinks he needs to concentrate on his music.
But then life has its own plans for him. He gets stuck up in fulfilling his daily duties and responsibilities, which seem to be only increasing with every passing day. This passionate musician is subject to further frustration when his only son has hearing issues.
Whenever life throws a new challenge, he initially struggles and after the initial period of frustration, he fights it, overcomes it and emerges triumphant. Only to face the next challenge that life throws at him, the next period of uncertainty. And before he could realize, his entire life is practically over, and he fails to accomplish what he set out to accomplish.
Or so it seems.
Mr. Holland would feature in my list of most realistic characters that mainstream commercial cinema has presented. To me, the movie appears to be subtly suggesting that the best time to pursue your interests is now. The tomorrow, from when you have resolved to seriously pursue your interest or work on that new thing, may never come. Even worse, you would never realize it.
Talented Richard Dreyfuss effectively portrays every emotion that Mr. Holland undergoes – excitement, frustration, insecurity, pride, and almost all other emotions that an average human being experiences daily.
Reading the movie’s plot could give an impression that this is just another “feel-good” movie. Watching it, however, could be a different experience.
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