Intellectual nuance has its limits. Though Alan Bennett's play "The History Boys" garnered rave reviews and swept both Broadway and the Tony Awards, some of its winning charm and British wit are lost in its silver screen adaptation, directed by previous Bennett collaborator, Nicholas Hytner. For the first third of this very English, theatrical film, the dialogue overflows with British jargon, screenplays acted in French without English subtitles, and enough literary references to make its audience regret ever wanting to go back to school.


But this is what you expect from a movie about a class of eight Oxford and Cambridge candidates at a grammar school - the British equivalent to an American high school - in Yorkshire in 1983. Observing their achievements in A-level courses and fancying Cutler's Grammar School climb to the top of institutional prestige, the headmaster (Clive Merrison) pushes them to return for a term's coaching ahead of the Oxbridge entrance exams. A trio of teachers is entrusted with preparing this gaggle of teenage boys for the arduous tests - the firm history professor, Mrs. Lintott (Frances de la Tour), the flamboyantly chubby "general studies" teacher, Hector (Richard Griffiths), and the young, newly-hired history grad, Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore).

Whereas Mrs. Lintott prefers a straightforward examination to historical study, Irwin has no qualms manipulating the truth to prove a point, preaching a "journalistic" approach to answering academic questions with off-shooting arguments and ample quotations. Hector basks in the wonderment of language and poetry, inspiring them to love knowledge for its own sake. Unfortunately, in contrast to his idealistically pure viewpoint, the motorcycle-riding Hector also has a propensity to fiddle with the boy who begrudgingly hitches a ride with him.

Both to its strength and its detriment, The History Boys remains rigidly faithful to its play counterpart. The entire original cast from the stage version return for the film, and though some of the boys, particularly the black student Crowther (Samuel Anderson) and the Muslim student Akthar (Sacha Dhawan), are as thinly sketched as in the play, the central characters deliver their well-rehearsed lines with star quality. Dominic Cooper turns the stereotypical cool kid, Dakin, into a likable yet arrogant character. Equally charismatic is Samuel Barnett, who vividly shows Posner's painful love with Dakin through a scene in which he sings to him in perfectly pitched words: "bewitched, bothered, and bewildered."

Bennett's slightly revised screenplay still poignantly depicts the shifting relationships between the boys and their teachers, but more than a several line changes are needed to accommodate the change in medium. Dialogue better suited for the stage is sometimes either over-acted or unrealistic in an atmosphere where high school students just don't break out in cabaret vocals. The ending also feels forced and emotionally manipulative, finishing with a climax that is far too abrupt on screen. However, after the academic foliage tapers off midway through the film, the actors' performances and the screenplay finally make the grade, getting to the heart of learning without spewing pretentiousness.

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