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The police would have likely shrugged and told him to learn to like it. While I think Neil's father is a jerk I don't think it's an abusive situation.
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MovieChat Forums > Dead Poets Society (1989) Discussion > [deleted]
Police? there was no crime committed. He probably could’ve called a suicide hotline, maybe?
shareThere was a crime committed, his father driving him to take his life
shareHe didn't "drive him to take his life." He took Neil out of Prep School to get him away from what he felt was a silly pipe dream (acting). He removed him from Welton to enroll him in a military school as a prep for Harvard and becoming a doctor. He was domineering and suffocating, yes, but he didn't commit a crime. All Neil had to do was persevere for another year and then he could forsake his father's dictatorial ways and live as he wanted. He didn't have to take his life, but he was immature and rash. It was a really stupid decision.
shareI would add that in the 1950s American worldview, Mr. Perry was doing the best thing possible for Neil, even though Mr. Perry was really doing it for himself—which is something he couldn't admit to himself, of course. He simply couldn't (or wouldn't) see that Neil was very different in temperament & character, far more sensitive & questioning about life, but feeling trapped by his sense of duty & obligation to his father. I wouldn't call his decision stupid so much as tragic. A person in that much despair can't see any other way out, can't see the possibility of going his way a year later that you or I could see—all he can see & feel is now.
I agree, from an adult's perspective, a year isn't all that long to wait. But for a tormented teenaged boy? He tells his father, "That's a lifetime!" And to him, it was. I remember feeling that way as a teenager myself. And while I can look back on it & ruefully smile at myself being so dramatic now, it felt very real & urgent then. "If I could only have known then what I know now ..."
Good commentary. I'm not uncompassionate to Neil's plight in the movie and understand what you say. Trust me, I was on Neil's side. I was just responding to the other poster's extreme claim that Mr. Perry literally committed a crime driving Neil to take his life, which compelled me to offer some perspective that painted Neil in a less-than-positive light. If Mr. Perry "drove him to take his life" why was he utterly devastated when he found Neil's body?
shareYes, I agree. My sympathies are with Neil as well, but I can also understand the pressures & needs that drove his father, As with most people, his were a mixture of unexamined personal drives & genuine concern for his son. Even if he wanted Neil to live out his own unachieved dreams, he did want a better life for Neil than he'd had himself. What father wouldn't? This is the tragedy.
And I've no doubt that had Mr. Keating known & understood Neil's father, he'd have been more circumspect as a mentor for Neil, perhaps even trying to speak to Mr. Perry himself. If, if, if ... one of the saddest words in the language, isn't it?
Having a son/daughter commit suicide has to be one of the most horrible things to endure in life. How much more so if your well-intended actions provoked it? Surely, Mr. Perry will be haunted the rest of his life, not to mention Mrs. Perry will be tempted to blame him, which would in effect ruin their marriage. This makes me suspect that Neil's suicide was partially about getting back at his father for being an unloving dictator.
The reason I call suicide "stupid" is because it's a permanent solution to a temporary problem, especially in a case like young Neil where all signs pointed to a bright future whether he left Welton or not. Once you're dead you're dead for a looong time.
Despite the tragedy, I always find the film thoroughly invigorating & inspiring. It powerfully drives home its message -- seize the day; dream big and ACT on them -- while also warning about folly and rashness, not just Neil's suicide, but Knox and Nuwanda's mistakes. And, in Keating's defense, he does offer wisdom on keeping balanced and not being Reckless in one scene.
Well said. As much as I'm on Neil's side on the whole, he also had mixed motives driving him, ones that he couldn't see in himself either. I think that's one of the things that makes this film work. That, and it really captures how it feels to be a young person caught up in the innocent, naive, exuberantly open wonder of new ideas & exploring them for the first time, of feeling like an actual individual for the first time. But also, as you note, the dangers lurking there as well.
shareHe probably was devastated at his son's death but probably it was a combination of his son's loss as well as his indirect dreams of fulfilment that contributed to his devastation. It is implied shortly before Neil's suicide (after he is taken home by his father from the play and told by him that he will be enrolled in a military school once he is taken out of Welton) where for no reason at all he is unable to tell his father how he feels despite almost standing his ground, that his father did not have opportunities like he did and Mr Perry was not going to let his son waste such opportunities. This could probably mean that Mr Perry wanted to see his son live his dreams rather than Neil living his own. We cannot be obliged to live for others and others cannot be obliged to live for us and that's a fact
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