The History Boys (2006)

Set in Northern England in the early 1980s, The History Boys is an adaptation of a play by Alan Bennett about 8 bright young men, recently finished with their A-levels, getting ready for their entrance exams and interviews to get into Oxford or Cambridge. Their headmaster, obsessed with the chance of getting such a large group of his school's students into the most prestigious universities in the UK, hires a young new teacher as an additional coach, touching off a struggle between differing philosophies of education personified by Irwin, the new teacher (played by Stephen Campbell Moore) and his slick bag of tricks and Hector, the eccentric, poetry-spouting English master (played brilliantly by Richard Griffiths, whom most will probably recognize as Vernon Dursley) as well as the personal loyalties of the students.
Watching the movie does feel rather like watching a play. The use of language is much more akin to the play format than the cinema format, but given the setting and subject matter, it works pretty well. It's not often that you get immersed in this sort of language in a movie... usually adaptations of plays. Go figure.
The performances are excellent all the way around, including the young men, many of whom are relative newcomers. Richard Griffiths, in particular, stands out for his performance.
Letter Grade: A-