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Actors: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Monique Curnen, Karen Chilton
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Half Nelson |
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Dan (Ryan Gosling) is a white teacher in an urban middle school. A child of liberal parents, he wants his students to understand the political and societal machine that rules their lives. He is also a crack-addict. One day after his old girlfriend tells him she has kicked the habit, he unwisely takes crack in school and one of his favorite students sees him. Her name is Dray (Shareeka Epps) and she is a black girl with family problems of her own.
She doesn't turn him in but he can see her disappointment in him. At first she avoids going to school because of this unwanted secret. He too is embarrassed and ashamed to see her. But after awhile they build a honest friendship. Shareeka's brother is in prison and her mother is always working. When the local drug-dealer, her brother's friend, tries to turn her into a drug-dealer business also, Dan tries to prevent it although his crack addiction is spiralling out of control.
--Carole McDonnell, Resident Scholar
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This movie is about a unique relationship which develops between a white schoolteacher, his African-American student and a local drug dealer. The story of this movie revolves around a inner-city teacher with a drug problem.
Dan lives in his Brooklyn apartment, he is living a miserable life, he sleeps on a sheet less bed or on a ratty couch, if he sleeps at all. The movie starts with Dan (Ryan Gosling) sits at a coffee table, up all night from a coke binge, shut off his buzzing alarm clock. A new day is starting, with or without him. As he has to go to work, to teach his middle-school history class, just like any other day.
Dan Dunne is a charismatic and dedicated inner-city Brooklyn junior high school teacher with a serious drug problem. Dan Dunne in other words is a disaster waiting to happen and a heartbreaker to the kids he care about, when he wastes himself at night, he's a wreck the next day in the classroom where he teaches his students and in the gym where he coaches basketball.
One of his student newcomer Shareeka Epps, a prematurely wise 13-year-old notice Dan's drug problem, she has seen drug dealing up close in her own family. Dan and Shareeka, develops a relationship they becomes good friends. This movie is rated R for drug content throughout, language and some sexuality. The film seems like the story of half hour starched to one and a half hour.
--Faiza Iqtidar, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Half Nelson |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- present (2000-2010)
Inner struggle or disability
Yes
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- teacher
Druggie/Wino problems?
- drugs
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- teacher/professor
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
- physically sick
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (woman) short/butch/lez
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn curly
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
- (woman) average
Unclothed?
- very tight clothes
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
- general circumstances
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- criminal
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 40%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard curly
Body type
- (woman) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Black
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
United States
Yes
City?
Yes
Misc setting
- school
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- frustrated
- all mixed up
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
- Some foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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