by MARK SLUTSKY

Schools, like prisons, submarines or the military, always make good settings for films; there’s always been something fascinating about a self-contained environment with its own rules and history. Or maybe movies about the joys of learning in a rarefied environment, your Dead Poets Societies and your Rushmores, just appeal to anyone whose scholastic experience was less glamourous or inspiring. Director Nicholas Hytner’s adaptation of Alan Bennett’s hit play The History Boys falls squarely into that category of romanticized educational coming-of-age stories. Set in the U.K. of 1983, the film follows a group of young men who take on an extra term of school to prepare for the rigorous entrance exams required for acceptance into England’s top universities.

The school’s headmaster (Clive Merrison), fearing that the somewhat eccentric “General Studies” teacher Hector (Richard Griffiths, perhaps best known as Withnail & I’s randy Uncle Monty), isn’t up to the task, hires the younger Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), a history teacher, to prepare the lads. The shaggy, overly affectionate Griffiths (whose cheerful gropes the boys benignly tolerate) is prone to a formless, scattershot approach to education and edification, while the purpose-driven Moore is more concerned with knowing just what to say to the examiners.

Their conflict is the heart of the film, but don’t get it twisted: this is a subtle movie and there’s no sidetaking, no great confrontation between the two. The History Boys is more like sitting in on a friendly, animated and well-educated argument about learning and art than watching a fight.

It ’s a pleasure to watch, although the movie’s roots as a play are evident in almost every scene. Though Hytner’s added a period-appropriate (New Order etc.) music cue here and there and sprinkled the movie with walkingand- talking exteriors, they feel contrived, and it definitely has that stagey vibe to it. But it’s not really a big deal. This is a dialoguedriven piece to be sure, and most of the actors actually come from the theatrical production. If you can get over the fact that its attempts to be cinematic fall a little flat, The History Boys is a worthwhile and touching experience.

The History Boys opens this Friday, Dec. 15

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