The History Boys

A certain transcendence beyond ordinary language could, in one sense, said to be the goal of every artist, communicating, inspiring, or perhaps teaching us something. There is a creative element in each of us that goes beyond reasoning - the flash of inner genius, the illumination of the soul. The question of how to awaken that in adolescents preparing for Oxford or Cambridge has no straightforward answer, though the teachers portrayed in The History Boys approach it from a number of angles, provoking philosophical questions about the nature of education. Add to that the theme of awakening sexuality and at least one teacher who confabulates both strands with his sexual desires, and you have an entertaining story, even before adding the side-splitting, intelligent humour.

The beauty - and shortfall - of The History Boys is that people who are steeped in theatre made it. With the modern genius of playwright Alan Bennett (who has adapted his stage show for the screen and brought most of the original cast), we can be grateful such a masterpiece will reach a wider audience. But this is Bennett-lite, and almost makes us long for the original, full-length work.

There is a notable absence of cinematic flourish - use of lighting, camerawork, images and subtleties unique to the silver screen that could have lifted the spirit of The History Boys to something beyond the physical limitations of the original stage. There is nothing here that could not have been portrayed equally well there - which leads us to conclude that, apart from it being a more accessible medium, the film is nothing more than a shortened, mildly adjusted copy of the play.

All the actors have the same excellent projection of voice and perfect intonation that carries well for a live performance but that lacks the intimacy which the camera can bring. Facial expressions are slightly overemphasised, befitting the stage, but lacking the subtlety usually required for good cinema. At times the dialogue sounds too much like a recitation or performance, resulting in an audience detachment that comes from not quite being able to believe in the reality of characters before us or the emotions they are going through.

Director Nicholas Hytner (Center Stage, The Crucible, The Madness Of King George) also has his roots firmly in theatre, yet his choice of subject matter has generally been so outstanding that he has reaped awards in spite of this clunky, stagey style. He also directed the successful Broadway version of this film's stage production, and it shows. The History Boys is obvious BAFTA-bait but, like the Madness Of King George, its pluses fortunately outshine its weaknesses, and the story, humour and intellectual substance are so engaging that you can be guaranteed lots of discussion afterwards with your fellow filmgoers.

In 1998, Bennett (who graduated from Exeter College Oxford with a BA in Medieval History in 1957) refused an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in protest at its links with press baron Rupert Murdoch. He has also been voted one of the most influential gay men in The Independent on Sunday's Pink List.

If anybody has the background to tell an outrageously authentic and rebellious tale of A-list history students with homo-erotic leanings it must surely be Bennett. He skilfully navigates the ground between appealing to a gay audience and a mainstream one by sublimating much of the homosexual content beneath the time-honoured stiff upper lip of English public school tradition, and then including hilarious heterosexual content that makes seducing a woman into a war-game.

Gilded epigrams, quotable quotes and the most stylish of double-entendres flood our ears as the boys' literary skills are augmented with the most ingenious of schoolboy deceptions. An ad-libbed enactment of a brothel scene for a French class (where one of the lads removes his trousers for added realism) is transformed seamlessly to a battlefront drama when the headmaster makes a surprise appearance. Literary references leap from Thomas Hardy and Keats to Brief Encounter and the Carry On films, and this mind-enhancing (if questionable) juxtaposition is faultlessly analysed.

The question of 'what is history?' is pursued with some vigour, from the idea of 'subjunctive history' to schoolboy Rudge's (Russell Tovey) down-to-earth if academically challenged definition - "just one fucking thing after another." Different intellectual approaches are personified by teachers: Richard Griffiths' Hector (knowledge for its own sake, whether it seems useful or not), Stephen Campbell Moore's Irwin (flashes of insight and creativeness that stand out from the usual interpretations) and Frances de la Tour's Mrs Lintott (who suggests radical reinterpretation from a feminist point of view, instead of history being the story of men's inadequate responses told from the point of view of other men).

If all this sounds like an overly cerebral experience, be assured it races past so quickly that paying attention to the academic content is an optional extra. Lighter viewing can tune in unashamedly to the in-your-face humour, a great soundtrack (The Smiths, New Order, The Clash, The Cure) and additional musical interludes as the lads leap to an old piano and acquit themselves admirably with camp song routines.

Like the similarly highbrow Dead Poets Society and The Browning Version or the more basic Dangerous Minds, The History Boys relies for its emotional ballast on the familiar themes of seeing a successful adult in a promising student, and the frailty of the teaching process, especially when the teachers need to propel students to heights that they themselves have never reached. For all its failings, that it does so with the brilliance of one of our finest contemporary playwrights is reason enough to see it. With its classic portrayal of English institutions and the education system it also, perhaps less justifiably, makes one kind of proud to be British.