Half Nelson
Not Just Another Teen Movie
By Daniela Castillo
When I heard about Half Nelson, a new movie about a white teacher in Brooklyn who befriends one of his black students, I thought of Dangerous Minds and The Principal-other movies about troubled white educators who reform minority rebels in poor neighborhoods. Those movies showed wonderful white adults saving the poor black and Latino kids, assuming, of course, that they needed to be saved.
Crisscrossing Lives
Half Nelson isn't so simple. Unlike those other movies, it doesn't give a black and white, right or wrong picture about morals, class or race. It's an honest story about a teacher and student whose lives crisscross through an unlikely event.
Half Nelson features a junior high school history teacher, Dan Dunne, played by Ryan Gosling, who plays the role with conviction and honesty. Everything in his performance is brilliantly simple-he plays an easygoing teacher and passionate dreamer who genuinely wants to teach his mostly black students something worth knowing.
But his personality outside the classroom is completely different. With his students he's assertive and strong, but back home, he's weak and pathetic.
Teacher Has a Secret
The twist is that he's part of something that plagues many inner city kids-Mr. Dunne smokes crack.
One day, 13-year-old Drey (played by Shareeka Epps) finds him barely conscious in the girls' bathroom, holding a crack pipe. Instead of panicking, Drey becomes intrigued by the vulnerability of her teacher and begins to seek him out to learn more about his problem.
Drey knows the drug game first hand. Her brother is in jail for dealing drugs and the man he worked for, the charming dealer Frank, helps Drey and her mom financially. Frank (played by Anthony Mackie) is also Mr. Dunne's dealer.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dunne's downward spiral with drugs continues. Hoping to clean up his act, he tries to pick up his grubby apartment and even does a brief 10-minute workout in a feeble attempt to repair his health.
But his hypocrisy confronts him when he goes back to class every day, talking about history while nursing his drug and booze hangover from the night before.
And in that classroom is Drey, reminding him why he teaches in the first place.
Shareeka Epps holds up in her performance playing a 13-year-old tough girl. I saw her first in the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, on which this movie was based. Three years later, her more adult voice and growth only strengthen the character's key attributes-her maturity and coolness.
Not Just Blowing Bubbles
As she befriends Mr. Dunne, we see that Drey's not always in calm Blow Pop eating mode. Sometimes when she's with her teacher, she breaks out into corny jokes and a shy smile, showing that kid side-which makes her performance even more impressive.
Mr. Dunne awkwardly but honestly opens himself up to Drey, giving her rides home and showing her the civil rights books at his apartment. And he finds the chance to redeem himself when he finds out that Frank has his eye on Drey to replace her brother. Mr. Dunne makes several attempts to confront Frank, but addiction gets the best of him and his plan goes awry.
Teens Will Relate
Although Half Nelson is nothing like the typical teen movie-where the football player falls in love with the nerd-turned-prom queen-I think teens will relate to it. I went to a junior high school like the school in the movie, and the scenes in the classroom-with kids shouting out silly answers-were so on point.
Half Nelson is one of those rare films that explores the idea of redemption without seeming heroic or righteous. And the film's flawed characters and heavy themes actually make the movie feel inspirational and optimistic to me.
Half Nelson was directed by Ryan Fleck, who also co-wrote Gowanus, Brooklyn, with Anna Boden. It's rated R for drug use and tough language
