2. Describe Sedgewick Bell’s level of moral development ? William Hundert (Kevin Kline), a professor at Saint Benedict’s preparatory school, believes in teaching his students about living a principled life as well as teaching them his beloved classical literature. Hundert’s principled ways are challenged, however, by a new student, Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch). Bell’s behavior during the 73rd annual Julius Caesar competition causes Hundert to suspect that Bell leads a less than principled life.

Years later Hundert is the honored guest of his former student Sedgewick Bell (Joel Gretsch) at Bell’s estate. Depaak Mehta (Rahul Khanna), Bell, and Louis Masoudi (Patrick Dempsey) compete in a reenactment of the Julius Caesar competition. Bell nearly wins the competition, but when Hundert notices that Bell is wearing an earpiece and is cheating with an assistant’s help, he gives him a question he knows he cannot answer. Earlier in the fi lm Hundert had suspected that the young Bell also cheated during the competition, but Headmaster Woodbridge (Edward Herrmann) had pressed him to ignore his suspicion.

This scene appears at the end of the fi lm. It is an edited portion of the competition reenactment. Bell announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate just before talking to Hundert in the bathroom. He carefully described his commitment to specifi c values that he would pursue if elected.