I wish I could recommend who recommended The History Boys to me because I want to thank him/her.
On the surface, it’s an early 80’s story about the pressure to get into Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, so it gives a very revealing look at the somewhat ossified approach to higher education there, but there’s a lot more.
The character development, IMHO, was very good. I felt connected to them (and there were many) and the numerous angles to the story made it quite rich. It felt a bit like a UK version of “Dead Poets Society” at times.
Solid film though.