Half Nelson

Half Nelson is all the rage in the indie film circuit right now. Remember that hunk in the Notebook? His name is Ryan Gosling, and he's in this one too, except now he's a young, hip inner city teacher. Yes, a movie about an inner city teacher. You've seen it before, right? Coolio and Michelle Pfeiffer, or Stand by Me or Stand and Deliver or whatever all those other inspirational movies are titled. This one's different. Why? Because this inner city teacher is addicted to crack and cocaine. His life is a mess, and while he still seems to be impacting his students, it's not the clean, neat, tidy, sweeping success story we've come to see too often (which, I'll be the first to tell you, is quite rare and unrealistic outside of Hollywood). There is so much to unpack in this movie it is unbelievable. That, I believe, is what is so commendable. The writers and directors successfully intertwined layer upon layer of rich themes to explore. You could watch it over and over and each time discover more to talk about. The teacher strikes up a friendship with one of his female students (who finds him high and overdosed in the bathroom). So now we have two worlds colliding: a rich young white drug addict trying to tell a poor black teenager to stay away from drug dealers. So not only do we see the contrast of cultures, the awkward explosion that occurs when different worlds intersect, but we also have a hypocrite trying to teach kids, sending mixed signals. (Romans 2:21 "You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?") The interaction between people is another highlight, a study of relationships. Every scene is a dialogue between two people, the girl and the teacher, the girl and the mom, the girl and the drug dealer, the teacher and the girl, the teacher and his coworkers, the teacher and the drug dealer, the teacher and a woman. It's a powerful example that what we do impacts others. What is most striking, though, is the study of change. The teacher tells his classes that history is change; it is two opposing forces pushing against each other until one becomes the majority and stays the majority until the minority pushes back and takes over. It is a gridlock, an arm-wrestling match. And while he relays this to his students, we see his life of addiction spinning wildly out of control. He knows he must change, but this gridlock keeps him from it. (Romans 7:23 "I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.") The minority force that wants to change cannot take control. Many people are using a vague ending to draw conclusions that I think are overly optimistic. They are turning it into an inspirational movie filled with hope without a whole lot of ground to do so. To me, I see a bleak picture of a life filled with addiction. I see the depravity of man, a force so strong that no will of his own can cause change. And at the risk of overspiritualizing things, it points to a need for a different agent of change, one outside of ourselves that is powerful enough to become the majority force. (Romans 7:24,25 8:2 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.) So anyway. It's well done, the soundtrack is great, and it ends up being pretty meaningful. I'm recommending it to you. And Ryan Gosling is a hunk.