Mr. Holland's Opus is a...
Illustration
Mr. Holland's Opus is a touching movie about a music teacher who spent 35 years
teaching students the joy of music. Due to cuts in the school budget, his department was
eliminated. [It is always the arts to go first and sports last, why is that?] After the final
day of school was completed, Mr. Holland, his wife, and son returned to the school to
remove his things upon his forced retirement. Mr. Holland had been rumored to be
completing a musical opus that was to have been presented at Carnegie Hall; due to
marriage, a child, school, and much more, he never finished it. As they were carrying out
his last boxes, Mr. Holland's attention was diverted by noise in the auditorium. He turned
aside and entered, and to his surprise, the entire stage was filled with his students of the
past 35 years. The governor of the state was there to preside, as the governor had been a
student of Mr. Holland years ago. The governor looked at Mr. Holland and proclaimed
that these students who he had touched over his career were truly his opus -- a life well
spent in service. Those students were living proof of his ministry in that community and
the world.
