Dichotomy

Review of The History Boys
by Brian Juergens, November 20, 2006

Near the beginning of the film adaptation of the stage hit The History Boys, a teacher responds to a pupil's question with, “What's truth got to do with it? What's truth got to do with anything?” In another classroom down the hall, a different teacher tells the same group that the pain of true love is the only education worth having. This dichotomy, and the fluid, highly personal nature of education in general, is the struggle at the center of writer Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner's fascinating and occasionally brilliant film.