This film received rave reviews in the New York Times. The plot sounded unusual. As a teacher, I get so tired of these movies about the noble white guy (or gal) teacher who comes to the inner city school and turns the lives of his students around. Yet this film promised a twist, you see the “white guy” is a crack head (!) who forms a friendship with one of his 13 year old students. It’s Bad Lieutenant (1992) meets an ABC after school special, which, as combinations go, is rather interesting.

Let me assure parents that the majority of teachers are not crack heads. In fact, this teacher, Dan Dunne, played excellently by actor, Ryan Gosling, is an unlikely hero who, luckily, never really manages to get it heroically together. That would have been rather insulting to my intelligence. He’s a problem child. He’s that type of guy who oozes boyish grunge looks and a bad boy attitude. With puppy dog eyes, he is reminiscent of Kurt Cobain. Chicks love that stuff, and Mr. Dunne has no shortage of sexual attention from women his own age. This is necessary to the plot as while the world around them perceive Dunne’s friendship with his student, Drey (exquisitely played by Shareeka Epps), as inappropriate, we know that their bond is not sexual. However, as Mr. Dunne continues his downward spiral we wonder if this could not potentially change.

The thing is, any adult who needs a 13 year old friend is rather pathetic. This, he clearly is, as the drug dealer, Frank (another great performance by Anthony Mackie) demonstrates more maturity, clarity and responsibility than this man on a self destructive mission. Luckily we get some insight as to the motivations of our two main players and find that there are plausible reasons they might find common ground.

Half Nelson (2006) is beautifully filmed, strongly acted and solidly directed by Ryan Fleck. The script is original, though in the attempt at realist cinema, it sometimes feels choppy and disconnected. Throughout this movie there is a very clear political metaphor that at time seems strained, but does help to give Mr. Dunne more depth as an individual and reveal some of his own frustrations and feelings of impotence. As his class discovers, we can be against “the machine” but the truth is, we are also part of it. Therein lays our own paradox.