Half Nelson

Since I am a proud member of my Film Club in my oh so amazing media techno college, every friday we watch films, think about them and widen our outside knowledge of the world ultimately.

Last week we watch a film called Half Nelson, which starred Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie and Shareeka Epps. I must say, I really enjoyed it. I was a bit apprehensive at first, but it was a good watch and Ryan Gosling played the part of a drug addict teacher very well.

Gosling plays the part of a young teacher who struggles himself with his own life. He's constantly dealing with a drug addiction problem, but he still manages to find some sort of energy to inspire them in anyway he can; often rejecting the actual school curriculum for his own approach to how they should be taught.

As Dan deals with his own problems, he is caught smoking crack in the girls toilets by Drey, played by Shareeka Epps, a shy girl he teaches and someone who he coaches on the girls basketball team. Drey's own life problems become evident later on in the story; he parents don't seem to be in a relationship, her mum works late hours and her brother is in prison. As a result of this a man named Frank, played by Anthony Mackie, seems to be the only one that shows that 'family- orientated' relationship with her.

The film ultimately deals with exploring the different kinds of loneliness that people seem to go through in their life. Whether as extreme as being a drug addict teacher, or being a somewhat neglected child left to your own devices, both issues are brought together with a solution attempted to be made. Drey tries to help Dan overcome his drug addiction, whereas Dan tries to help Drey from hanging around the wrong crowd that could eventually get her into serious trouble.

These two characters both play their part extremely well; they both have an unspoken bond which has a great impact in the film. the camera angles that are used also are very clever. In some ways you could say that how it's filmed is fairly unconventional, but the wide range of extreme close ups focusing on the emotions and 'jitteriness' of the camera, make it much more realistic.

Half nelson is a very honest film; it doesn't hold back on the problems that some people can go through. I would strongly recommend you to watch this, as it is something refreshing and different to watch allowing you to be more open about things. 

A nice quote I found that someone wrote about this film was that:
"These two people are better able to save each other, than to save themselves". I thought that summed up the film in a nice way.

Rating:
* * * * *