Half Nelson

Ryan Gosling gives a realistic, believable performance as a drug-addicted inner city teacher who becomes close to one of his students named Drey (Shareeka Epps). Gosling teaches history and is supposed to be going over Civil Rights, but is off the curriculum and trying to teach something more applicable to daily life. This includes opposing viewpoints, change, and forces beyond any single person's control. Drey has hard-working mother and often remains unsupervised. She is befriended by a local drug-dealer and Gosling tries to keep her safe. (The "if you can reach one person, you've done your job" discussion is brought up in an early scene).

Interspersed with the narrative are history reports from the students about Attica, Central American Politics, and Brown vs. the Board of Education. Archival footage is used well during these sections. Of course, Gosling gives a drunken speech about present-day Iraq. But thankfully, the movie doesn't try to answer most of the questions it asks.

Epps and Gosling are terrific together and Gosling has rightfully received accolades for his performance. It looks like he's here to stay and won't forever be remembered as an SNL music skit punchline. The movie itself looks like the low-budget indie it is with shaky camera work on top of grainy images. It will make you think, but you won't be on cloud 9 at the end. B

Medical Mistakes: None. But kids, don't mix alcohol and drugs, even if your teachers do. Wait, don't use alcohol or drugs separately either. It's illegal, or didn't they teach you that in school?