HALF NELSON
US, 2006, 106 minutes, Colour.
Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Jay O. Sanders, Deborah Rush.
Directed by Ryan Fleck.
A Half Nelson is a wrestling move – shown here in an arm wrestling competition - where an attacker’s strength is turned back on them to defeat them. It is a kind of dialectical tactic, so to speak. And this is the kind of speak from Half Nelson’s central character, Dan Dunne, a young teacher at a Brooklyn Junior High. His specialty is history but it is always from the point of view of contrasts. He explains events and movements in terms of the confrontation of opposites, the power of dialectic.
Dan relates quite well to his class – and they, unlike so many characters in school films are not prone to violence or even much disrespect. Dan also coaches girls’ basketball. But this is no typical inspirational film. Dan is not really a role model at all. During class he is often tired and offhand. In fact, he is a crack cocaine addict at night and, despite a try at rehabilitation, is really stuck on drugs.
Speaking of contrasts for dialect, Dan tells the class that humans are made up of contrasts, saints and sinners. Which sums him up.
One bright thirteen year old whose father has left, whose mother works night shifts for the city and whose brother is in gaol (and she wonders whether she will finish up there), Drey (Shareeka Epps) finds Dan high and collapsed after a basketball match and tries to help him. They become friends – he trying to get her away from the clutches of a rather genial and smooth dealer (Anthony Mackie), friend of her brother, while she serves as a conscience check on his behaviour.
Dan has friends on the staff willing to support him although the principal wishes he would stick to required texts. The students are studying civil rights and are shown historical clips and quotations from Malcolm X. Dan has an ex-girlfriend who is now going to marry someone else, has some one night stands with a fellow teacher but is fairly non-committal. We also see him at home with his parents.
Moments are glimpsed. Incidents occur briefly. This is a small budget film, not crafted in the polished Hollywood style. Ryan Gosling (The Believer, The Notebook, Fracture) received an Oscar nomination for this performance. Shareeka Epps is very impressive and convincing. The film just stops. It is not really inspirational. Rather, there is hope.
1.The title, the wrestling move, the arm-wrestling – as seen in the film? Real, symbol?
2.The Brooklyn setting, ordinary Brooklyn streets, the ordinary New York, not the touristic New York, streets and apartments, the school?
3.The visual style of the film, the small independent film, the musical score?
4.The narrative, episodic, glimpses of characters, situations?
5.Ryan Gosling and his Oscar nomination for his performance as Dan? Seeing him at home, sitting on the floor, suspicion of drugs, his age, the failure of rehabilitation? The relationship with Rachel, her phone calls, meeting her, her coming to the basketball match, losing her? At school, teaching history, the issue of contrast, dialectic? His relationship with the kids, the touches of humour, humane? His being tired? Coaching basketball? Going out, dancing, the girls, the crack cocaine pipes? The game, his supporting the kids, going to the empty locker room, lighting up? Drey finding him? Getting some help? His sleeping, sometimes not teaching, weary, the effects of the drugs? In the common room, the friendship of the teacher, support? The teacher and the relationship? The nights with her? The principal and her concern about the syllabus? The civil rights classes, the video clips, history, the declarations about the different steps of the civil rights movement? Quotes from Malcolm X? The kids and their response, their work?
6.Drey, at school, her family, her mother and her work for the city, the absent father, the older brother in prison, her wondering about her own future? The link with Frankie through her brother? His looking out for her? Her finding Dan, helping him? His giving her a lift, her bike being stolen? Talking together, an ease together, the issue of appropriateness or not? At school, play, talk, the lifts? Dan and his consciousness that he was not a role model? Frankie and getting Drey to do deliveries, giving her the money? The delivery and the group with Dan? Her seeing him? Her ability to manage, get the bike back, acting tough and joking about it? Her future? The final scene of her sitting with Dan?
7.The mother, her work, the brother in jail, the discussions about her work, with Frankie?
8.Dan and the relationship with the teacher, non-committal, breaking up, his efforts, the crack party?
9.Frank, with the group in the street, looking respectable, delivering the drugs? Using the kids? Dan and his being upset, confronting Frank, warning him off? The invitation to have a drink with them?
10.Dan’s parents, the visit, his brother and sister-in-law, the discussions? The father’s concern – and his drinking? The mother and her hopes? His relationship with them – and the mother’s phone call and his tidying up his apartment?
11.The substitute teacher, taking Dan’s place – and Dan and his absenteeism?
12.Dan, the possibility of giving up the drugs, not giving them up? The final scene together with Drey – how long would their friendship last? She would get better? He would not?
13.The teaching genre, the inspirational films, this one not inspirational because of Dan’s failure as a role model? Yet the class respecting him, not acting violently? His potential, his dialectic – that he was a saint and a sinner? The possibilities and hopes – yet Dan’s continued descent into addiction? The sharing of jokes between Drey and Dan?
