What is so captivating about "Half Nelson" is not that it's a story so much as an incredible character study of a school teacher, Mr Dunne played by Ryan Gosling. I can't recall the last time I was so captivated by a performance that seemed so true and so effortless. Throughout the film, I kept thinking: "I know this guy. I've known teachers like him." And there is something all too familiar about the social, political dynamics between the teacher and the school's society".
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe said that this is an example of how the American left has failed in this country. The message (if there is any political message) is very subtle and in some ways, not so newsworthy. We've all felt and questioned a sense of hypocrisy from the baby boom generation of the sixties. But the film suggests reasons for this that are far more complex than we can even put into words. I have not even mentioned yet that Mr. Dunne is a crack addict. How did this happen and what is it that drives him to teach these kids in the first place? Mr. Dunne says "my students are what keep me focused". This line could not have sounded more true but we know that in retrospect, it is completely false. I believe it is the foreign and racial environment that is the key to his failings. He has a way of connecting and being hip to his students but he can't really relate to them. We can imagine how tough these kids from poor environments can be but Ryan Fleck does not show us this. In fact, quite the opposite is true and the responsibility is all up to Mr. Dunne. There is a contrast in his relationships with women and we see how easily he is capable of earning respect.
I think one of the important questions to ask from watching this film is not so much how Mr. Dunne fails or becomes a crack addict but why he chose the path that he did. There is something ironic about Mr. Dunne's fascination with black history and Drey's drug dealing father who collects racial artifacts that hang on his bookshelf. Does the drive to teach these kids in this specific environment come from something as superficial as nostalgia? Mr. Dunne does not like to go by the book and he is attracted to the theory of dialectics but if he cannot relate to the kids or his relationships in a sincere, down-to-Earth and honest way, then there is not much hope for the future. That is just one take on the film, I'm sure you'll have others.
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe said that this is an example of how the American left has failed in this country. The message (if there is any political message) is very subtle and in some ways, not so newsworthy. We've all felt and questioned a sense of hypocrisy from the baby boom generation of the sixties. But the film suggests reasons for this that are far more complex than we can even put into words. I have not even mentioned yet that Mr. Dunne is a crack addict. How did this happen and what is it that drives him to teach these kids in the first place? Mr. Dunne says "my students are what keep me focused". This line could not have sounded more true but we know that in retrospect, it is completely false. I believe it is the foreign and racial environment that is the key to his failings. He has a way of connecting and being hip to his students but he can't really relate to them. We can imagine how tough these kids from poor environments can be but Ryan Fleck does not show us this. In fact, quite the opposite is true and the responsibility is all up to Mr. Dunne. There is a contrast in his relationships with women and we see how easily he is capable of earning respect.
I think one of the important questions to ask from watching this film is not so much how Mr. Dunne fails or becomes a crack addict but why he chose the path that he did. There is something ironic about Mr. Dunne's fascination with black history and Drey's drug dealing father who collects racial artifacts that hang on his bookshelf. Does the drive to teach these kids in this specific environment come from something as superficial as nostalgia? Mr. Dunne does not like to go by the book and he is attracted to the theory of dialectics but if he cannot relate to the kids or his relationships in a sincere, down-to-Earth and honest way, then there is not much hope for the future. That is just one take on the film, I'm sure you'll have others.
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