Running time: 106 minutes
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Monique Curnen
Rating 8 out of 10
Propelled by Ryan Gosling's extraordinarily powerful performance, Half Nelson is a tough, raw and tender drama about a disillusioned Brooklyn high school teacher who tries to save his pupils while his own personal life lies in ruins. Gosling is without doubt one of the best young actors around. His visceral portrayal of Dan Dunne was fully deserving of his Oscar nomination and announced his elevation to Hollywood's A-list. Beyond Gosling's performance, Half Nelson is absorbing if not completely original. Plots involving influential teachers and their impact on their pupils are a well fished river, but few have had such a fervent and intense presence as the one Gosling imbues Dunne with. Unfussily directed by Ryan Fleck, who co-wrote the script with Anna Boden, Half Nelson offers a probing look at the derailment of a well-intentioned teacher and an urban school system more concerned with containment than fulfillment.
Dunne discards a conventional curriculum in favour of a free-thinking exchange of ideas with his teenage pupils. Intent on opening them up to change, his unorthodox approach is embraced more by his students than the authorities. Smart and engaging, he is confounded by the harsh reality of trying to enlighten kids whose ambitions and expectations are more prosaic than he would hope. To deal with his frustration, Dunne escapes at every opportunity into a drug-fuelled haze. When one of his students, Drey (Shareeka Epps), finds him strung out, the two form an unlikely bond.
Dunne tries to steer Drey away from the inviting pitfalls of drug dealing that have ensnared members of her family, while she in turn forces Dunne to look at himself and his own demons. Epps' resonant portrayal of the spirited and savvy Drey matches Gosling's for formidability and the relationship between the two characters is friendly and feisty.
Understated and thoughtful, Half Nelson errs on the side of realism over melodrama and the contrived buoyancy that more commonly guides films involving inspirational teachers. But then there have been be few performances as real and impassioned as that of Gosling.
Kevin Murphy
