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)
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