History repeating

Sheffield grammar school boys at the end of their secondary schooling should be worrying about girls, sport, smoking, and what goes on behind the bike shed. They should not be worrying about the overweight general studies teacher touching them inappropriately on his motorcycle. And they certainly should have better things to worry about than getting into Oxford or Cambridge.

Classroom dramas aren’t exactly cutting edge, but the gay content in this film adaptation of a multiple Tony Award-winning play still has much to entice.

For eight unfortunate boys, scoring the highest A-level results in the school’s history means another preparatory term under the tutelage of young history teacher Irwin. He was brought in to replace the more venerable general studies teacher Hector (Richard Griffiths, Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter movies), who remains much loved even as he continues to touch them inappropriately.

Griffiths is possibly the only actor who could make a seemingly pedophilic character endearing, although one might still question why the movie’s openly gay creative team would want to do such a thing.

Griffiths is joined by the original cast of boys who perform well, but never quite shake off the feel of still being on stage.

Deftly deflecting Hector’s surreptitious and unwanted fondling, the boys have colluded to protect their favourite teacher from suspicion, and continue to accept his motorcycle rides.

Competing for the hearts and minds of their young charges, Irwin and Hector respectively exemplify modern results-oriented tutoring versus old-fashioned learning for fun and truth.

Filling students’ heads with useless poetry, scripts and quotes, Hector’s brand of teaching is sidelined in pursuit of success. The approach of the entrance exams wages war on the conflicted boys’ loyalties.

Thankfully the gay subplot far outshines the overworked Dead Poets Society overtones.

The youngest of the boys, Posner (Samuel Anderson), blends into the background so well that he passes successfully as a gay teen who is vulnerable despite the open acceptance of all those around him. More confusingly, one charming straight student spends much of the film flirting with Irwin’s ambiguous sexuality.

As the story plods toward entrance exams, the boys and their teachers cease being a potentially offensive line-up of caricatures and one-liner jokes and start to show real charm.

Perhaps that’s the reason the director Nicholas Hytner was named on the Independent On Sunday‘s Pink List of the most influential gay men and women. He’s made a pleasant film unstained by the killer gay tag, tackling controversial topics in such a way that few viewers would feel awkward about bringing along their mother.