An inspired teacher of Greek and Roman history at an elite boy's preparatory school, Mr. Hundert (Kevin Kline) is revered by one and all. As the years pass by, class after class of students enter his classroom, study with him, and pass on to other things, and each year, Mr. Hundert moderates the "Mr. Julius Caesar" competition, in which the best of his students are pitted against each other to determine whose knowledge of classical history is the best, and who will win the laurels and a place in school history. So the years have passed, and they have been successful ones; but with the class of 1976, one student seems both able and willing to disrupt everything that Mr. Hundert teaches, and believes in: dignity, the pursuit of knowledge, honesty, honor. Twenty-five years later, in fact, the events of that one school year turn out to have an unexpected connection to the present day, and the issues of conscience of years past are raised once again.

The Emperor's Club combines an idealism about teaching with a refreshing sense of realism. Mr. Hundert is a gifted teacher, and one who has the benefit of a supportive and wealthy school; as such, the problems he has to deal with are not the same as those faced by a public-school teacher in an inner city or even a suburban neighborhood. Nonetheless, his job is not an easy one, as we see when a new student named Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch) arrives, a destabilizing influence in the precariously-built community of the classroom. The ways in which Bell tests Mr. Hundert's authority, and the balance that Mr. Hundert walks between disciplining Bell and encouraging him, are captured perfectly in the film. Nor is Mr. Hundert painted as infallible; in one key scene in which he determines the three finalists in the Mr. Julius Caesar contest, we see him struggling with an inner ethical conflict and ultimately making a decision that may or may not turn out to be the correct one.

That sense of realism infuses the story throughout, and in fact it's this realism that gives the story its sense of originality, its surprises. After setting up its characters and their relationships, it explores these characters and how they would act with a high degree of honesty. Mr. Hundert struggles to change his students for the better, and The Emperor's Club calls into honest question whether such change is possible; have his students already formed their characters, and their destinies, beyond any effect he can have on them? The story steers us away from believing in the "movie magic" style of character development, in which a single critical moment can strike like a thunderbolt and change a person's life; but at the same time, it shows us the subtler and perhaps more powerful ways that change and growth can happen.

I appreciated the consistent ethical depth of the film. The main theme, as it turns out, deals with intellectual honesty: do we have an obligation not to cheat, or is "real life" a case of every man for himself? Mr. Hundert has a clear opinion on the subject, but the film refrains from hammering home his moral as the correct one. The concluding events of the film suggest, once again, the cloudiness of ethics in the real world. If honesty and morality are the highest civic virtues, why do we, as a society, fail to see through the self-serving lies of politicians?

The Emperor's Club is, above all, a character portrait of Mr. Hundert, and one that Kevin Kline pulls off very well. Hundert is a man who has invested a great deal of himself in his students: he is committed not just to teaching them Greek and Roman history, but to shaping their characters, encouraging them to lead actively moral lives. The perfect touch of the film in this respect is that, having characterized him as a teacher, the story doesn't change his character at the drop of a hat (or at the turn of the plot). Several difficult situations come up over the course of the film: one involving his obligations as the moderator of the Mr. Julius Caesar competition, and one involving his desire to be headmaster. And, most importantly, there is the resolution of the frame story, which draws on all the events that we have seen as Mr. Hundert recalls them. In each case, we don't get the predictable happy ending... nor do we get the equally predictable tragic ending. Instead, we are treated to a genuinely complex resolution, one that evokes the depth of real life.

The fact that The Emperor's Club focuses on one gifted teacher at a boy's preparatory school will inevitably call forth comparisons to Dead Poets Society. What viewers will note very soon, though, is that the two films really don't share anything except some elements of the setting. The themes and issues tackled in The Emperor's Club, not to mention the way that the story unfolds, are entirely different. Among other things, while Dead Poets Society focuses on shattering tradition and breaking with the past as a way of empowerment, The Emperor's Club suggests that similar personal growth can happen through embracing tradition and holding oneself up to the highest standards of the past. And while I certainly liked Dead Poets Society, it's actually The Emperor's Club that ends up as the more subtle and understated of the two; Kline's performance as the dedicated history teacher who is only really comfortable in his classroom is more nuanced and ultimately more believable than Robin Williams' literature teacher.

Admittedly not all the elements of the film come together perfectly. The character of Elizabeth seems entirely extraneous; she doesn't seem to have any particular role in the plot, or even in Hundert's character development, which is carried more than sufficiently in his relations with his students. It's almost as if she's there just as a token woman in an otherwise almost entirely male cast; alternatively, she may have been a more important character in the short story that the film was based on. However, this is really the only loose spot in an otherwise very tightly constructed film. The film's hour and fifty minutes of running time are thoroughly engrossing, with the frame story and the extended flashbacks structured so that the film is always developing in an interesting manner.

The DVD

Video

The Emperor's Club is presented in a lovely anamorphic widescreen transfer at its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Colors are superb throughout the film, looking consistently rich, natural, and vibrant. The contrast is also handled very well, with detail being maintained at a variety of light levels. Some minor edge enhancement and a touch of noise appear in some scenes, and I admit to being surprised at the fairly large number of print flaws that show up, as well, but overall these problems don't detract from the overall excellent quality of the image.

Audio

The audio choices here are excellent: a DTS 5.1 track and a Dolby 5.1 track are both included. The DTS in particular is outstanding. The overall sound is extremely clear and natural; the musical score is woven seamlessly into the soundtrack and is always perfectly balanced with the dialogue. For a mainly dialogue-based film, I was impressed with the use of the surround capabilities of the soundtrack: whenever the scene could be enhanced by the use of surround, it was. Several key scenes involving an audience clapping and cheering were particularly immersive. All in all, The Emperor's Club sounds great.

A French Dolby 5.1 track and a Spanish Dolby 2.0 track are also included, along with English closed captioning and French and Spanish subtitles.

Extras

The DVD of The Emperor's Club provides several worthwhile special features. Director Michael Hoffman provides a full-length audio commentary for the film. A making-of featurette runs 20 minutes, and a 20-minute section of deleted scenes is presented with optional director's commentary. We also get trailers and cast and crew information.

Final thoughts

The Emperor's Club explores a number of rich themes: the importance of teaching, the place of honesty in the modern world, the nature of the teacher-student and, to a lesser extent, the father-son relationship, the conflict between tradition and innovation, and the moral choices that each person must make... and how those choices, however seemingly small, define us and our future. What's more, the film treats these ethical issues with the complexities that they deserve, resulting in a story that often develops in unexpected, but deeply satisfying, ways. Kevin Kline delivers an excellent performance here, with solid support from the young actors who play his students, resulting in a thoughtful, rich film that I highly recommend.