The piano music that played throughout this movie seemed to exploit the concept of suffering in this movie. It was a difficult movie to get involved in at first. The movie appeared to be very uplifting until you started to realize that the people were struggling with themselves, hence the music played. The conflicts that the actors portrayed lent a very distressing tone to this movie.
The actors themselves performed remarkably well in this movie. Kevin Spacey's acting in this movie seemed so real and emotional that for a while I was calling him Eugene. Spacey has again proven his greatness as a serious actor. He made you feel like he really was the school teacher whose face had been scarred by his father. Spacey had to wear heavy makeup and delve into this role with ability and dignity. When he is rejected, by his own sense of honor, your heart goes out to the man. Spacey makes you want Eugene to be happy. Eugene was not only struggling to make his students learn valuable lessons of life, he was also struggling with himself and where his life was heading. Could he ever lead a normal life and have a family of his own to love him for who he was. I felt that Kevin Spacey's acting in this film was very real and made you believe that he became the character he was portraying.
Helen Hunt does a fine job as the recovering alcoholic mom who doesn't see Eugene as the true savior that he is. She is not quite as convincing as Spacey in portraying her