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"Half-Nelson:" starring Ryan Gosling who

Posted by tinear on February 15, 2008 at 05:12:58:
is in every scene but one or two.
A film------- SPOILER-------- which is easy to dislike because of its seemingly nihilistic slant: the teacher begins the film as a basehead and he ends the film as one, having told us he doesn't think he's the "rehab type."
Throughout this journey through the life of Gosling's slacker, inner-city slum high school teacher, we come to know one of his young black female students whom he sees slipping into the drug culture. Ironically, he several times tries to confront her would-be-seducer who also happens to know of the teacher's habit but still respects him for his dedication, calling him several times by the respectful, "teach."
Lots of brain exercise: is the teacher going to reform? Will the young girl backslide? Can white folks do anything helpful to ameliorate the deprivations of inner city minorities? Should they?
How can a mind and life obliterating drug take hold of a seemingly middle-class kid's life, a kid with "average," supportive parents and siblings?
It is to the director but especially Ryan Gosling that we care about the teacher at all: something is deeply bothering him but it's not clear if its his recent breakup with his girlfriend, weltschmerz, or white guilt which shapes him.
The drug dealers aren't horrible guys, the teachers aren't over-dedicated or overly-cynical, drugs sometimes can win--- the film takes the deeper view of humanity which elevates it from yet another film of a white person somehow transforming a black situation.
A damn good film.