Half
Nelson (2006)
For this
week’s edition of Movie of the Week, I have decided to go with Half Nelson, a much grittier feature
than last week s delightful selection by Joshua, The Giant Mechanical Man. As far as subject matter goes, I have not
strayed too far from my last selection Trainspotting
with Half Nelson focusing on Dan
(Ryan Gosling), a teacher struggling to keep his drug habit from interfering
with other aspects of his life. The teacher-student relationship is also put
into focus, bringing up questions of right and wrong or the motives behind this
type of relationship. Half Nelson’s
look at culture and how it influences the choices one makes along with the
viewing of one’s own future also makes for a film that is ripe for discussion. Like all previous MotW selections, Half Nelson is available for instant
streaming on Netflix.
Wow, Half Nelson blew me away. This is such a great movie and the perfect follow-up to your last pick, Trainspotting. As a whole, I think Half Nelson is an even better film than Trainspotting. The style and cinematography were truly beautiful and captured the gritty feel of the movie.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how a cocaine addicted teacher (Gosling) can be a likable and sympathetic character. This is due in large part to Gosling's amazing performance but can also be attributed to the character created by Fleck and Boden. The only thing that Dan wants to achieve is to influence one student's life enough to put them on the right path. He mentions this idea several times and his passion for accomplishing this goal is evident within his relationship with Drey, a troubled young female student.
It takes buying drugs from Drey, and Drey consequently talking to him about it in a motel room the following day, for Dan to realize he needs to cleanup his act. Since Dan is an expert in change, and moreover history, I truly think he kicked his past habits when he is shown cleaning up in the end.
Do you think Dan's demons were a product of his environment? If Dan had been teaching at a white collar school, with predominately white students, would he be so susceptible to the habits he exhibits?
I do not think that Dan's demons were a product of his environment. I would like to believe that his drug addicted started as something more along the lines of recreational or to relieve stress but as things got more and more stressful (reltionship aspects, teaching at a school where the administration looks down upon teaching outside the box) the problem got worse.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I would go as far as to say that Dan teaching in that type of school where the children believe, based on history, whether it be personal family or the what past students have done, that they will accomplish nothing or end up in prison, (Drey thought this way), helps make it clear to him that he does need to clean up so he can rewrite history for the students that come in out of his class room. He knows that these kids need someone to make them believe that they do not have to follow the footsteps of family members or past students but has to get clean in order to do so.
I like your view that Dan started using recreationally but the problem got incrementally worse as the his life got more complex. It makes a lot of sense. Dan grew disenchanted with some of the harsher realities that come with being an adult leading to his use of narcotics.
ReplyDeleteWhen Drey questions whether or not fate in life is predetermined by where she comes from, Dan gives her hope that it is not. She can get out and be successful, the choice is hers.