Film or Movie Title:        The Emperor’s Club

Some information on the movie:

An idealistic prep school teacher attempts to redeem an incorrigible student.

Directed by                    Michael Hoffman

Produced by                   Marc Abraham

Andrew S. Karsch

Michael O'Neill

Screenplay by                Neil Tolkin

Based on                       The Palace Thief by Ethan Canin

Starring by                      Kevin Kline

Music by                        James Newton Howard

Cinematography            Lajos Koltai

Edited by                         Harvey Rosenstick

Production company      Beacon Communications

LivePlanet

Fine Line Features

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Distributed by                Universal Pictures

Release dates                 September 9, 2002 (TIFF)

November 22, 2002

Running time 109 minutes[1]

Country                          United States

Language                       English

Budget                             $12.5 million

Box office                       $16,318,449

Stars:

Kevin Kline              as       William Hundert

Emile Hirsch            as       Sedgewick Bell

Joel Gretsch            as       adult Sedgewick

Embeth Davidtz       as       Elizabeth

Rob Morrow            as       James Ellerby

Edward Herrmann   as       Headmaster Woodbridge

Harris Yulin             as       Senator Hiram Bell

Paul Dano               as       Martin Blythe

Steven Culp             as       adult Martin

Jesse Eisenberg       as       Louis Masoudi

Patrick Dempsey      as       adult Louis

Rishi Mehta             as       Deepak Mehta

Rahul Khanna          as       adult Deepak

Caitlin OHeaney       as       Robert Brewster

Tim Realbuto           as       Jackson Pheiffer

Chris Morales          as       Eugene Field

Luca Bigini              as       Copeland Gray

Michael Coppola      as       Russell Hall

Sean Fredricks         as       Mr. Harris

Main characters with brief description:

William Hundert      is a very passionate and hardworking professor who really loves his job, his greatness was tested by his students

Mr. Woodbridge      the owner of the school, St. Benedict’s Academy

Sedgewick Bell        is one of the students of William Hundert

                             He is a rich kid who is very naughty and does a lot of bad things

Senator Bell            father of Sedgewick who happens to be one of the west Virginia Senators

Martin Blythe          classmate of Sedgewick, he was supposed to be in the slot of Sedgewick during the Julius Caesar Contest in their Academy

                             His father was once a winner of the Julius Caesar Contest

Louis Masoudi         classmate of Sedgewick, he was one of three contestants in the Julius Caesar Contest in their Academy

                             He is a very bright individual

Deepak Mehta         classmate of Sedgewick, he was one of the three contestants in the Julius Caesar Contest in their Academy

                             He is a very intelligent and hardworking student

                             He happens to be the winner or hailed the Mr. Julius Caesar on their batch

Own summary of the movie:

The movie started when William Hundert or Mr. Hundert applied in the Academy of St. Benedict’s which was owned by Mr. Woodbridge. He was teaching Western Civilization in the Academy. It discusses about the different philosophers, emperors, rulers and kings of the western civilization. His subject he was teaching was very exciting and fun to learn because there were lot of famous and wise people on that time that had lots of contribution for our society and world at present which we can apply and use today at present in able to live life right or correct and understand life more. There was this one kid who got late in enrolling or late for class on the first day it was Sedgewick Bell son of the west Virginia Senator Hiram Bell. Sedgewick Bell’s first impression as a student to Mr. William Hundert was not that really good. He showed a bad attitude or a disrespectful one for not obeying or not respecting his professor. Mr. Hundert remembers him because of what he showed on that day. As the schooldays went on Sedgewick’s performance on their academic activities was not really good at all. He was showing lack of interest on school and their subject. He was getting low grades or scores on Mr. Hundert’s subject, these occurrences forced Mr. Hundert to set an appointment or meeting to talk to his father Senator Hiram Bell. When Mr. Hundert had the chance to talk to Senator Hiram Bell, Senator Bell gave a gun as a gift to Mr. Hundert. As their conversation goes on Mr. Hundert opened about how is Sedgewick Bell, Senator Bell’s son was performing on class. They had an argument about how Mr. Hundert was molding his students to turn them to be a successful being. Senator Bell did not agree with him and rather told that Mr. Hundert should not mold his son and he should just teach him the Senator claimed that he was the one who is supposed to mold his own son. He points out that Mr. Hundert was only there just to teach him. After the conversation ended Senator Bell immediately called his son and scolded him for what he was showing on school. By this incident Sedgewick was awakened and motivated to do good in school. By that instance he was slowly and effectively doing great in class. He was starting to pass and get high grades. He was participating more on recitations and answering some questions. Sedgewick was also motivated to get into the top 3 of their class for the contest in their Academy called “Mr. Julius Caesar”. In order to be able to participate in the event you must be in the top 3 in your class. The contest starts in the classroom where you should get high scores in your exams. The contest will be composed of the three top students and they will be tested to their limits in the concerned subject. They will be asked different questions starting from easy to hard questions. If you answered wrong you will sit down and will not participate anymore, it is a survival type of contest and who will stand strong in the end will be the declared winner. Mr Hundert seeing Sedgewick is improving he was starting to gain confidence or trust in Sedgewick that he will or will be able to compete in the contest. Mr Hundert somehow became bias to Sedgewick which lead to giving Sedgewick considerations and high scores on exams this lead to taking Martin Blythe’s place on the top students who was supposed to compete in the contest. He gave a higher grade to Sedgewick in able to top the score of Blythe. By this the top 3 students whom made it to the contest was Deepak Mehta, Louis Masoudi and Sedgewick Bell. The day has come and the contest was held it was hosted by Mr Hundert himself as the quiz master, throughout the contest Deepak and Bell was the remaining contenders and suddenly while the contest was happening Mr Hundert noticed something fishy about the gestures or moves of Sedgewick he caught him cheating the exam and silently told it to the authorities and they told Mr Hundert to let it go. Mr Hundert then changed his questions and asked a different one that was a hard thing to explain and Sedgewick was not able to answer it and it lead to the success of Deepak Mehta. Deepak won the Mr Julius Caesar Contest. Throughout the years that passed by, Mr Hundert was still teaching in the academy and promoted or got more involved in the school. He was expecting to run the school after the awful incident where Mr. Woodbridge, owner of the school passed away. But unfortunately the board didn’t choose Mr Hundert to run the school rather they picked someone else. Mr Hundert who was very disappointed about the decision then led him to resign and left the school. After years that passed by the school was starting to go down and lose some money to support itself. Someone from the authority back then when the contest was happening way back was someone who wants to gain back his dignity and proposed that he will donate a big amount of money for the school in a condition of that there will be a rematch again against the top 3 finalist then and being Mr Hundert as the quiz master again. Mr. Hundert knew about this and accepts the condition for the sake of his passion of teaching in the school or for the students. They again held the contest for the second time Sedgewick was caught again cheating by Mr Hundert. Sedgewick lost again against Deepak because Mr Hundert again asked a different question that was hard to answer and explain. Right after the contest Sedgewick and Mr Hundert had a deep conversation about Sedgewick cheating again in the contest. Sedgewick did not listen to Mr Hundert and he pursued to run for Senator to follow the footsteps of his father. The End.

Movie Review:

A.    What insights and lessons about the human person did the movie directly or indirectly touch or tackle?

It tackles about how the human person or certain person has their own free will or to make their own decisions in life. It tackles also on how to achieve happiness or fulfilment in life on how you or what you will do in order to achieve it.

B.   What philosophical questions have been raised in the movie? What concrete scenes from the movie did this questions arise?

This happened when Sedgewick was tested to decide on what to do right to cheat again or not to.

Sedgewick was tested on how he will apply the different kinds of virtues in his life or what he was encountering then.

But again he didn’t follow it rather he had his own faith on living life.

C.   What are the moral and ethical dilemmas that were illustrated in the movie? How do we sell these dilemmas in our daily lives? How would you respond to such ethical and moral dilemmas?

The moral and ethical issue or dilemma that was illustrated was on how you trust someone not just by their personality or your intuition that this person will do well unto you.

D.   Is there a general concept or view of the human person that was depicted in this movie?

The general concept or view of the human person that was depicted was that the human person is made or lived here on earth to show or lived the right way of living life. On how they will decide or believe in what is good.

E.   Name and relate at least three philosophers and their respective philosophical thoughts in certain characters or scenes in the movie.

1.    Thomas Aquinas to Mr Hundert, it was shown how Mr Hundert was showing the four cardinal virtues of Thomas Aquinas which was Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude.

2.    Pietro Pomponazzi to Deepak Mehta, Pietro said that “man can be anything in this world” Deepak aimed and work for being successful and he gained it through his hard work and passion for it.

3.    Martin Luther King to Sedgewick Bell, Martin said that Man is Corrupt. It could be applied on how Sedgewick acts and chose to be and corrupt man.

F.    Which character can you relate with the most? Why? Narrate a personal experience which makes you relate with the character.

I chose Sedgewick Bell because I see myself in him in how he acts. I do some bad things and sometimes get caught and get penalized for it. I see also myself in him in doing good in class, because I don’t really focus on doing good in school or having high grades on every subject but I know in myself that I can or I could do better than anyone in the class it’s just that I’m very lazy and too busy doing some stuffs that’s not related to school like going out, playing basketball, playing games, and others. But unlike Sedgewick I do not cheat in class or in contests.

G.   What insights did you gain from the experience of watching the movie? How these insights are guide you as you pursue your goals in life?

I was opened that doing right things will lead you to a happy life and a healthy one as well. Choosing right rather than what makes us happy is the best choice.

RATING

★★★★ (4)