"Half Nelson" (2006) - Movie Review

It is quite tough to bring in the feeling of dizziness under the influence through out a movie. In the sense, the process of the movie going forward can bring in the same feeling of being crappy and not able to continue the day to day routine. Any one having too much drink and got swallowed by the influence of alcohol can relate to that feeling of being rest less. In a much simpler term, having the worst hangover. The whole day would be ruined and when the clouds clear, the exhilarating feeling is refreshing. It is a “MasterCard” priceless moment. But can you make the hangover enjoyable? “Half Nelson” is the answer.

The film is simple enough to state. A teacher is finding it hard to separate his drug habits from his school. Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is the history teacher the kids love to learn under. He is witty, influential and rightly knowledgeable. As a kid, any one would like to get to know him. He is the teacher who knows the boundaries and speaks the voice of the students. He does not draw the line in between him and the students. At the same time, he maintains the aura of the authority not through rigid ness but through his ease of transferring knowledge in the most effective and interesting way possible. There would have been an influential teacher in every one’s life or at least an enjoyable funny teacher who may not know the subject, but knows the mentality of the kids. Dan Dunne is the best of those both. This is the positive energetic side he shares with the students. This is where he is strong and confident. From there on it’s down hill for him. He is under the control of drugs. His sleep is bothered and his energy is tightened up. When a person knows a lot, the obvious tendency is to share it a lot. He needs the like minded people to discuss and have the dialogue of the knowledge. His students are too young to do it and the few adults he knows does not grasp those. Topping that he is in his dream world most of the times. This is the dissipation of a knowledge radiating to nothing and destroying itself.

Comes Drey (Shareeka Epps), Dan’s student and also a basket ball player. And of course Dan is the coach of her losing team. Witnessing the eloquent and confident teacher of hers who is laying help less in the rest room, she is puzzled. May be that is one of the reasons she starts to connect with him effectively. Dan is puzzled too. He is writing a book about change and it’s an irony. He gives up hope and wants to find it in another let down being. He feels obliged to make the life of this young kid fine. He does not know how to do it, but he knows he has to do something. The film may not explicitly state these things, but conveys it effectively through expressions and that is the film making one would not witness regularly in this industry.

The jittery camera, blurred faces, terse replies, subtle expressions are some of the very few differential features of this movie. The film is the exploration of a person who does not have the hope, believes the hope in other person. There is no surprise that Drey is instantly gets close to Dan. What surprises is how Dan gets himself in the right frequency with Drey? In any other motion picture, this would have been given some bad identity putting some artificial emotions, but it is not even in question. The character definition is written in bold and underlined letters that it is purely an ethereal connection of finding the right ness in their messed up lives.

There are movies which dive in instantly into the main section and with the light mood; it blossoms into an intriguing emotional journey. There are other movies which takes sufficient time to explain its characters and then formulate the actions of those characters to present its embarkment into the plot. This film does take its time to define the characters and at the same time rides on the main flesh of the material. Alright, it has been done previously but this is special and unique. The moments are patient and hidden. It runs on a tone which the previous movies with the same characteristics did not invent upon. I know I do not make much sense, but read this paragraph after you watch the movie. I am sure that you would definitely not understand it then too, but will get what I am trying to say. The Ethereal Connection.

I cannot end this review without quoting the performance of Ryan Gosling. He got nominated for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Actor in Leading Role. Forest Whitaker won it for “The Last King of Scotland”. It is an unwinding debate on comparing the performances. Yet, the award missed Ryan Gosling.