The time Dead Poets Society brought about the end of the Cold War

An emotionally shattered Mikhail Gorbachev left his private Kremlin cinema, tears on his cheeks and the words ‘Captain, my Captain’ echoing through his mind.

Mr Gorbachev had just seen Dead Poets Society and, like the rest of the world, had been profoundly moved by the film’s central theme of ‘carpe diem’ or ‘seize the day.’

“I enjoyed the works of Robin Williams immensely,” said Mr Gorbachev in a 1996 Wogan interview.

“Mork and Mindy, particularly – ‘Na-nu, na-nu’ – hilarious.”

“So, I went to see Dead Poets Society expecting to see a wacky comedy, but Dead Poets Society was something different, it was beautiful, it was moving, it was inspiring.

“The message of carpe diem spoke to me. I had to seize the day. I had to end communism.”

Mr Gorbachev decided that the best way to bring about the end of the Cold War would be by knocking down the Berlin Wall.

“I telephoned [East German leader] Herr Honecker immediately,” recalled Mr Gorbachev.

“I was seizing the day, after all.”

However, Honecker would not be persuaded.

“He liked the wall, it made him aroused and he was convinced it kept the bears out of East Berlin.”

It was a blow for Mr Gorbachev’s plans. But he had a plan. It was risky, but it might just work.

“I knew that if I could get Herr Honecker to watch Dead Poets Society then he, like I was, would want to seize the day.

“The problem was that he would not want to watch a decadent Western Hollywood film, so I took the Dead Poets Society label off the film and put a new label on saying it was a documentary about collectivism in the Urals.”

The plan worked. The East German leader began watching and was quickly captivated by the beautiful cinematography and spirited message.

“He immediately ordered the wall removed before resigning and moving to the Aruba to teach wind-surfing.

“I think so, anyway. My memory may be a little off.”

The fall of the Berlin Wall precipitated the end of communism and the cold War and it all came about because one man watched Dead Poets Society and decided to ‘seize the day.’