I can't get this movie out of my head, I LOVED Ryan Gosling's performance, hes too good. About the film, well its gritty, intense, low-key and doesnt sensationalize the drugs, the film is based in reality - we experience the addiction rather than finding out why he got into this situation. Ryan's character, you feel for him despite his contradictions, he doesn't even admit he has a problem yet he is someone who you kinda like, root for, you want him to get better because you know his intentions are good, you know he really loves his students just that his addiction is too strong - stronger than him, so instead of the character coming across as a cold-hearted, drug user - we sense his warm soul mainly through his friendship with his student. Speaking from experience, its a little hard to sympathize with a drug user because of their erratic behavior and heightened emotions, so I can imagine how tough it was for Ryan to pull off this performance - its no easy task, so I command him for delivering such layered, naunced and honest performance. We follow Dan to his downfall and in the end, we hope he will get through it all...especially for the students he cares about so much. His teacher style was unorthodox. He would get in trouble for teaching outside of the curriculum but he wanted to prepare his students for the emotional and mental stuggles that they will encounter throughout the course of their lives and his students listened and participated - that love and attention that Dan recieved from his students is what kept him going - he knew he was making a differece in their lives for the better. He wanted to inspire them but whats so extrodinary is that Dan did not feel like lifting himself out of the ashes, he did not want to inspire himself - that paradox in his character made his journey so moving and haunting. The film is all about opposing forces and how one force overcomes the other to bring about change - that is what Dan teaches to his students. We see this in Drey, Dan's 13 year old student. She's constantly dealing with opposing forces - Dan and an old friend of her brother's who drags her into the world of drug dealing. Shes mature but still very much a kid, trying to find her place in the world. In one poignant moment in the film, she enters her teachers apartment - sh ends up selling cococaine to her teacher - at that point, she realizes that Dan needs her more than she needs him. She realizes that Dan needs a caring hand to hold on, so she chose that path over the other because it was the stronger path, the more powerful on she knew it will lead something better, atleast she had that hope. On the other path, there was no hope. Dan deals with his own opposing forces - his willingness to help his students and his unwillingness to help himself. His drug addiction has him locked and he has admitted defeat, whether he will ever come out of that, is unknown...at the end we just hope he does. Half Nelson is a complex character study which requires introspection and emotional involvement - something missing from alot of big budget Hollywood films these days.
